


An Unusual Arrangement

by orphan_account



Category: The Dark Crystal (1982), The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Arathim - Freeform, Arranged Marriage, Drama, Eventual Smut, F/M, Falling In Love, Forced Marriage, Implied Sexual Content, Mildly Dubious Consent, Minor Rian/Mira, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Slow Burn, skeksis free au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:47:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21631648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Rian is a warrior of the Stonewood guard, betrothed since his childhood to wed Maudra Fara's successor. Deethra was hand-chosen at a young age by Maudra Argot herself to become the next Grottan Maudra, and has trained most of her life for the role.But when the growing threat of Arathim jeopardizes all that these two hold dear, they agree to an unusual solution in order to unite their alienated clans together: An arranged marriage.Though each gelfling is willing to do what they must for sake of their clans, they are certain that the relationship itself is bound to be a loveless disaster. After all, who ever heard of a Stonewood and a Grottan together? It could never work...could it?Skeksis-free, stonegrot arranged marriage AU. Slow burn romance with drama and angst. :)
Relationships: Deet & Rian (Dark Crystal), Deet/Rian (Dark Crystal)
Comments: 66
Kudos: 106





	1. A Betrothal and a Breakup

**Author's Note:**

> K, I know I said I was going to do more of those baby Jen oneshots, but I CAN EXPLAIN. I haven't been happy with anything I've written lately and have ended up scrapping it all. Then the Muse took a bunch of disconnected ideas I had laying around my mind, wrapped them all up in a bow and put this AU in my lap and...I couldn't resist.
> 
> In this AU, the urskeks never split the crystal, so the skeksis and mystics don't exist. As a result, the dual glaive doesn't exist either, and the Stonewoods won the Arathim war thanks to aid from the Grottans, who have more of a military presence here than in the show. I'm taking other liberties here and there as well with gelfling culture and certain characters, because it's my AU and I do what I want. :p
> 
> I'll try to go over the differences between the canon and this AU in the notes here and there, when I feel like the story itself doesn't explain them well enough. All right, enough jabber. Onwards to the first chapter! Hopefully the first of many, since I want this to be a good, old-fashioned slow burn with plenty of romance and drama. :)

It was late afternoon in Stone-in-the-Wood, and the three brothers hung low on the horizon now, their rays sending long beams of sunlight streaming through the towering trees of the Endless Wood.

Rian stalked slowly along the forest floor, gripping his sword tightly in his hand as he took care not to snap any twigs. It was imperative that he not be heard, lest he lose what little advantage he had over his prey. She was crafty and sly, and it wouldn’t do for him to underestimate her, not again.

Suddenly, he heard the rustling of leaves behind him and he spun on his heel to face the sound. Nothing. He narrowed his eyes and stalked slowly towards where the sound had come from, his sword drawn close to his body and his gate swift and stealthy. He whipped around the corner of a tree in hopes of catching her off guard. Again, nothing.

He sheathed his sword with a huff. That was odd, he was certain he’d heard something...Wait. His sharp, blue eyes picked out a snapped twig on the ground. He bent down to inspect it, picking it up and turning it between his fingers. So he was right, he had heard her. But where was she now? He rose to his feet slowly, eyes narrowing as he surveyed the forest around him with the scrutiny of a bird of prey.

His ears were perked again, by yet more rustling, this one above him and accompanied by a soft, buzzing sound. He snapped his head upwards as a handful of autumn-colored leaves fluttered down from the canopy. Rian smirked, of course she was in the trees...

“Hah!”

He heard the cry of his prey, descending upon him from behind. He spun around to face her, but before he could draw his sword, he had the wind knocked out of him as he was whacked in the chest by the dull end of a spear. The leather cap he wore as part of his guard’s uniform was knocked clean off his head from the force of the blow. He scrambled to recover. but before he could regain his balance, the spear swept his legs out from under him, and he let out a loud “oomph” when his back collided with the hard, forest earth.

He saw the pointed, silver tip of the spear hovering just inches from his throat and felt the weight of another gelfling settling on top of him, her legs stradling his body as she pinned him into submission. His eyes darted up to meet the face of his captor just as she let out a satisfied sneer.

“Gotcha.” Said his Vapran lover, Mira grinning down at him smugly. “That makes 3 in a row now, give up yet Rian?“

Rian huffed a stray lock of his dark hair out of his face. “Ever considered that I let you win?”

She scoffed and lowered her spear. “And why would you do that?”

He let his head loll to the side and looked up at her coyly. “Maybe I just like the sight of you on top of me.”

She narrowed her emerald eyes at him. “I wouldn’t end up on top so much if you had any idea how to wield your sword.”

“Oh if your reaction last night was any indication, I think I wield it just fine.”

She snapped her spear back up to his throat. “Careful, I’d watch that tongue of yours if I was you. Just admit it, I beat you fair and square!”

Rian's eyes crossed as they tried to focus on the tip of the spear. “Funny, I thought you enjoyed the way I wielded my tongue as well.”

She unstraddled him in a huff and rose to her feet before turning her back on him. “Oh Thra, you're hopeless!”

He snickered and rose to his feet as well, dusting his knees off as he stood. “Oh all right, I admit it. You got me fair and square. Really Mira, with your skills I don’t know why you aren’t a paladin for the All Maudra.”

She turned back to face him, one white eyebrow cocked. “And be shut up in that stuffy old castle all day, guarding that stuffy old broad and her stuffy little brats? No thank you, life on the road for me!”

Rian laughed at her boldness. “I think you should be the one watching your tongue! If any other gelfling heard you say that about the All Maudra and the princesses, you’d be in the rascal hole for an unum.”

“Ah, but I didn’t say it in front of just any gelfling, I said it to you...” She took a step towards him, and placed one of her freckled hands on his shoulder.

Rian propped a finger under her chin and closed the distance between them, silencing their banter with a sloppy kiss. He smiled against her mouth as she kissed him back, matching the intensity of his embrace as she always did. He relished these little moments with his Vapran lover whenever they could steal them, which were becoming fewer and fewer these days between her work and his position as a member of Maudra Fara's Stonewood guard.

Mira used her skills with a spear to work as an armed escort for Vapran merchants. In exchange for a handful of coins, she would guard them on the road, so that they could have safe passage in their travels to sell their goods among the different gelfling clans. It was quite a lucrative business, especially in these dangerous days, what with the Arathim and all...

He’d first met her a couple trine ago, when her travels had first brought her to Stone-in-the-Wood. He’d been instantly infatuated by her beauty and brave spirit, and didn’t waste a single moment in offering to show her around the forest. She accepted his invitation, and he supposed that she returned his fancy: seeing as how after their first date, she'd pinned him to a tree and kissed the wind out of him when he asked if he could see her again.

Since then, Whenever Mira passed through Stone-in-the-Wood, they would always take whatever time they could spare to spend together. They would play pranks and cause mischief, engage in “swordplay” of one sort or another, or just simply enjoy each others company.

Unfortunately however, it seemed that this particular stolen moment was at an end, as Rian heard the distinct sound of a gelfling clearing his throat. He broke the kiss from Mira with a disappointed sigh and they both turned to face Tolyn, one of Rian's fellow guards in Maudra Fara’s service.

“Rian,” said Tolyn, his voice cold as steel. “Maudra Fara requires your presence at once.”

“Maudra Fara wants to see me? What for?”

Tolyn stood ramrod straight, the faintest hint of contempt behind his dark eyes. “I don’t know Rian. All I have been told is that it is an urgent matter, and that she wants to see you as soon as possible.”

“Sounds serious,” Said Mira, jerking her head towards the guard. “You’d better go.”

“Y-yeah.” Said Rian, reaching down to retrieve his hat he'd lost from their roughhousing. “Listen," he said to Mira as he fixed it on his head. "When I'm done with whatever this is, meet me at the place tonight, same time as usual.”

“Oh I’ll be there, don’t you worry." She slapped him on the bum with the dull end of her spear. "Now get! Before you're the one in the rascal hole tonight.”

He gave her one last smirk before he followed Tolyn back towards the village.

* * *

The walk to Stone-in-the-Wood's citadel seemed to take much longer than usual to Rian. As he weaved past wooden cottages, and bustling villagers he spent every step racking his mind for what it was that Maudra Fara could possibly want to see him so urgently for. He'd caused a bit of mischief lately, yes. But it was no more than usual, surely nothing serious enough to warrant a personal meeting with the Maudra herself.

"Whatever it is you’ve done, I hope you finally get what’s coming to you, golden boy." Tolyn hissed the words between his teeth, where only Rian could hear them.

Rian ignored Tolyn's taunts, he was used to his fellow guard’s disapproval by now. Tolyn’s militant, no nonsense approach for his service naturally clashed with Rian’s more nonchalant attitude towards his duties and life in general. And of course, the fact that Rian sometimes received special treatment from Maudra Fara due to his betrothal didn't help matters any...

Rian had known for most of his life that he was meant to have an arranged marriage. His Father and Maudra Fara had made the arrangement when he was little more than a childling. Rian was intended to wed Maudra Fara’s successor, the next Stonewood Maudra. And it was hoped that Rian himself would also one day succeed his father’s position as captain of the Stonewood guard.

As Maudra Fara was unmarried and had no daughters of her own, it fell to her to choose one of the Stonewood girls of the clan to succeed her in leadership. But Fara was strong, and the blazing fire of her spirit showed no signs of dimming. And as it seemed she had no plans of stepping down or dying any time soon, she was in no great rush to choose a girl. That however, was perfectly fine by Rian. He wasn't exactly in any hurry to get married.

Rian had never resented these plans which had been made for him when he was small and dictated the rest of his life. To Rian, it was simply the way things were and the way things would always be, and he accepted it without question. His biggest frustration with the betrothal was that he was often passed over for more dangerous missions he was perfectly capable of completing, simply because Fara didn’t want to risk her successor’s future mate. Rian was able to bear it by reassuring himself that one day he would be the captain, and then he could go on whatever mission he liked without objection. In the meantime however, he was perfectly content to bide his time with Mira while Maudra Fara took her sweet time choosing her heir, and his future wife.

...But perhaps he'd run out of time to bide. Yes, maybe that was why he was being summoned here today. Had Maudra Fara finally chosen an heir? Rian gulped and thought of Mira. Of course, he'd always been honest and never hidden his betrothal from her, though Mira had accepted him anyways, knowing that their time together was limited...But maybe they had already reached that limit, and so much sooner than he’d ever thought.

As Rian and Tolyn approached the entrance of Maudra Fara’s courtroom and council chamber, Rian couldn’t stifle his gasp of surprise at the sight of the gelfling who stood at attention just outside the towering door.

“Father!”

“Captain.” Ordon corrected his son, His face as hard as though it were carved from solid rock.

“Oh. Yes, Captain...” Rian ducked his head towards the floor. He didn’t see much of his father these days, as the growing activity of the Arathim kept him quite busy. The last Rian heard, Maudra Fara had sent Ordon out on a mission that shouldn’t have been back from for at least a few more days.

“I didn’t know you were home. How long have been back?” Asked Rian.

“I arrived early this morning actually, Maudra Fara wanted me home at once, so I traveled all through the night to get here. Since my arrival, I’ve spent most of the day speaking with her about this this particular matter.”

For the first time, Rian noticed the deep, purple bags that shadowed his father’s eyes. “It’s that serious then? Is it something to do with the Arathim?”

“In part yes.” said Ordon with a stony nod. “The other part involves... well, it involves your betrothal.”

Rian took a step back. So it was true then... “My betrothal? Has Maudra Fara chosen a successor?”

“Well no, she hasn't....” said Ordon, his bloodshot eyes looking past Rian to travel down the stone wall. “It’s well, a bit unusual ...Ah, come on then. You’ll see.” Ordon dismissed Tolyn before pushing open one of the great, oaken doors and jerking his head for Rian to follow him.

Rian followed dutifully, and walked side-by-side with his father into the cavernous room, over the wooden grates of the dreaded rascal hole, and under the swinging chandelier of bulbous lights. All the while, puzzling over what his betrothal had to do with the Arathim.

Maudra Fara sat waiting for him, perched on her throne like locksnake ready to strike. Her piercing eyes stayed fixated on Rian from the moment he entered the room.

Rian approached the Maudra as his father stood a few paces back. “Maudra.” He bowed his head.

"At ease,” Maudra Fara rose and descended the steps of her platform, keeping her eyes trained on Rian the entire time. He thought she looked worn, in a more stressed and disheveled state than he was accustomed to seeing her in. And she had her own set of bags hanging beneath her eyes to rival his father’s.

“Rian, it’s good to see you. Please, make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?” She gestired to a piture of water resting atop a small table. Her voice was commanding and firm, but here was a certain maternal gentleness behind her tone, which Rian had come to know well from the various private moments he’d shared with her over the trine.

“No thank you Maudra, I'm not thirsty. I’m told you wanted to speak to me about my betrothal?”

“Ah yes, we'll get to that...but first I must do a little explaining...” Her voice teetered more to the firm side as she turned to pace away from him.

“As a member of the Stonewood guard, I trust that you are well aware of the Arathim issue at hand?”

“Of course,” said Rian with a nod.

The great spider-monsters known as the Arathim had once been a horrific plague on the Stonewood clan. Spitters once attacked farmers and landstrider herders during their chores, and preyed on travelers of the forest roads to the point where gelfling no longer felt safe to travel them, especially at night. At a certain point, the conflict between Stonewood and Arathim became so intense that it escalated into full blown combat, which in later trine had come to be known as the Arathim Wars.

Since the Arathim’s defeat at the battle of Stone-in-the-Wood, the creatures had retreated largely into hiding. And an era of peace was enjoyed by the Stonewood clan, with only occasional reports of the beasts lurking about in the darker corners of the Endless Wood. But lately, those reports had become more and more frequent, and the beasts were spotted venturing further and further into Stonewood territory, sometimes even during the daylight. There had been attacks on Stonewood gelfing too, though no one had been killed yet, thank Thra.

“I had initially hoped that this resurgence in the creature’s activity could be put down by our warriors with ease,” Said Fara, wringing her hands behind her back. “But our scouts have brought me intelligence as of late, and I fear that this problem is far worse than I could have ever anticipated...”

“Our scouts have seen them gathering together at night, in dark, withered corners of the Wood. They whisper and hiss among each other in that cursed tongue of theirs, plotting together in numbers far greater than we’ve seen in years. And I fear...” She paused again before she said the next words, and Rian swore that he saw her wings shake, as if a cold wind had just run over her body. “...I fear that there is another war brewing on our horizons: one that Stonewood clan cannot win alone.”

Rian blinked and took a step back in shock. He had no idea the Arathim problem had grown so serious! He knew that the creatures posed a greater threat to the Stonewood clan than they once had, but another war? And not just any war, a war so great that even Maudra Fara with all her fire and tenacity feared that Stonewood clan couldn’t stand against? Ah, but then... he furrowed his brow, there was something missing here, wasn't there? Something she wasn't telling him, why else would she summon him specifically?

“Forgive me Maudra, that's horrible news indeed...but how does my betrothal come into play in any of this?”

“I’m getting there, Rian.” She waved her hand at him. “As I said before, Stonewood clan cannot stand against the full strength of another Arathim war _alone_...But there is a way it would not have to: Stonewood is not alone in the plague of the Arathim. The Grottan clan feels their sting too, and they stand to lose just as much as ourselves if it comes to another war.”

“The Grottan?” Asked Rian, that made sense. The mountains of Grot stood just to the northern border of Stonewood territory, and the caves beneath them where the Grottan clan made their home had originally belonged to the Arathim.

Thousands of trine ago, the ancestors of the Grottan clan had driven the creatures out and claimed the caves for themselves. The Arathim has never quite forgiven the Grottan gelfing for doing this, and over the trine this bitterness had morphed into a hatred not just for the Grottan, but rather for all Gelfling kind itself.

Additionally, thirty trine ago during the Arthim wars, the Grottan clan had come to Stonewood’s aid during the battle of Stone-in-the-Wood, where the Arathim were finally defeated. It had been during that battle that Rian’s father’s deeds and courage had won him his current title, and Ordon had always insisted that they would never have won if not for the Grottan aid.

Maudra Fara went on. “If the Stonewood and Grottan clans stood together, as we did once at the battle of Stone-in-the-Wood, we might just be able to take the Arathim by surprise and stop this war before it even begins, nip it in the bud so to speak.” She paused then, shoulders tense. And Rian could tell that there was more to be said.

“But...” He said.

“But...our relationship with the Grottan clan has grown...strained at best, completely alienated at worst. We have grown bitter and divided, and we no longer share the same comradery between our clans as we did those trine ago.” She sighed and shook her head.

Rian nodded in understanding. The Grottan were a reclusive clan, and they rarely left the sanctity of their caves to venture into the light of the suns these days. He’d never even met one before, most of his generation born after the wars end hadn’t. But he'd heard plenty of rumors about them, and almost none of them were positive. It was whispered that they were dirty, and dull, with haggard appearances that bore greater resemblance to gruenaks than their fellow gelfling.

“If we ask their aid now with things as they are, we will not receive it. And that would put our clan in a very poor position indeed....but,” she turned and glanced at Rian from the corner of her eyes. “There is a way which could mend the gap between us... a way which requires your participation."

Rian stood at attention, suddenly feeling the weight of duty resting on his shoulders. “Name it Maudra and its done. Whatever you ask of me, I’ll do it for our clan.”

The corners of Fara’s lips twitched upwards with what Rian thought might be a flicker of pride. “I appreciate your enthusiasm Rian, but why not hear what it is first?” She began to step towards him. “For weeks now, I have been in correspondence with Argot, the Grottan Maudra. And together we have reached what we believe will be an appropriate solution to draw our clans together... Like myself, Argot is unmarried and childless. Unlike myself however, she has already chosen her successor, and has been training her these past ten trine: a girl named _Deethra._ ”

Rian frowned, he didn’t understand. Where exactly was she going with this?

“Argot and I believe that our clans need a symbol of unity in order to inspire them in this alliance, something to serve as a guiding light: an example for what there can be between us...particularly, a union between two gelfling of our clans. So..." She met his eyes and inhaled sharply. “In the interest of the survival of our clan, I have offered your hand in marriage to this girl."

Rian felt his stomach hit the floor. Of all the things he had expected to hear when he was summoned here tonight, this had never even made the list, and why would it? A union between the clans like this was completely unheard of!

“You...you want me to marry this Grottan girl? But what about my betrothal to your successor?”

“I have consulted with your father about this, and he has agreed to break your previous betrothal in accordance with this one, if you choose to accept that is.” She waved a hand towards Ordon's statuesque form before turning her attention back to Rian. "Please understand Rian, this is entirely your choice. But I would never ask this of you if I believed that there was a better way out of this bloodshed otherwise. Argot and the girl have already agreed... all we need now, is your consent.”

Rian reeled back on his heel, like he'd just been punched in the stomach. He put a hand to his head as the walls of the room seemed to shrink around him, and a knot began to tie itself in his throat.

“I...I don’t know Maudra. I never expected such a thing to be asked of me. You want me to marry a girl from another clan I've never even met? And not just any girl, a _Grottan._ ” He said the last word through gritted teeth before shaking his head.

Fara approached him slowly, carefully. “The weight of the task I ask you to bear is not lost on me Rian, and you would not go unrewarded for your loyalty to our clan.”

"I...I just don’t know. I need time to think..."

"Would that I could give it to you Rian, but I'm afraid time is of the essence here. As i said, Argot and the girl have already agreed, and I fear an extended delay might offend them. I know it's not enough, but the most i can give you is a day." Her tone veered back to the motherly side as she put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder and squeezed. "I need an answer Rian..."

Rian swallowed hard, the knot in his throat tightening and Maudra Fara's hand on his shoulder felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. He looked to his father for guidance but found none. He knew the expression carved into the captain's stony face well by now, and he knew exactly what it meant: _do the right thing._ Rian swallowed again...what was the right thing to do here?

If he said yes, then he'd be marrying a gelfling he'd never even met... and when gelflings married, they mated for life. No force on Thra could break the pair bond that was forged between two gelflings on their wedding night, save for death itself.

Of course, Rian had never had any choice in his future wife before. But he'd always thought that when Fara chose a girl, he'd have at least a trine or two to try and get to know her before he ultimately had to marry and pair bond with her...and of course she was supposed to be Stonewood too, rather than Grottan.

Undoubtedly, Rian could think of almost nothing more unappealing to himself than saying yes. But if he said no...

If he said no, then what would happen to his clan? What would happen if it came to another Arathim war without Grottan aid? In his mind's eye he saw swarms of Spitters descending on Stone-in-the-Wood like a tidal wave of darkness, and he heard the screams of his fellow Stonewood gelfling as they were swallowed alive by it...

Maudra Fara has said that the decision was his choice, but if Rian could stop this war before it even started, all just by saying yes to this marriage...then the choice had already been made for him, hadn’t it?

"I don't need a day, Maudra. I've made up my mind."

Maudra Fara cocked her head. "Oh?"

Rian took a sharp inhale and nodded. "I consent. I'll marry this Grottan, this _Deethra_... for the good of our clan I'll do what you ask of me." He exhaled and felt his shoulders drop. There, it was done.

Maudra Fara's eyes fluttered shut as she removed the hand she had on his shoulder, the tension in her body evaporating with a sigh. "I am happy to hear that Rian. It will be a great relief to move forward with these plans." She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "As I said earlier, your loyalty to our clan will not go unrewarded: Whatever you ask of me, anything I have in my power to give: it's yours. You need only say the word."

Rian felt his ears pull back against his head. "Thank you Maudra, but I don't know what it is I would want."

"Understandable. With this I can give you all the time you like: take a trine if you must, or even longer... I am in your debt Rian, along with the rest of Stonewood clan." She closed her eyes again and bowed her head at him.

"I...thank you Maudra." Said Rian, not knowing what else to say.

Maudra Fara clasped her hands together and sprung up with new vigor. "In this case, we will begin preparations immediately. Argot and I have decided that ceremony should take place at Stone-in-the-Wood, and as soon as possible. In the meantime however..." She gave Rian a soft little smile. "Why don't you join me for dinner? Come, it's grown late. You must be famished." She placed her hand back on his shoulder and ushered him towards the doors before glancing over her at Ordon. "You too Captain, there's plenty at my table to go around."

Ordon nodded curtly before following Maudra Fara as she shepherded Rian towards her private quarters to dine. Rian was aware that the two of them were speaking, though he didn’t hear what they were taking about. He was also aware that words were coming out of his own mouth too, though what he was saying didn’t quite sink in to his ears. He was a bystander in his own body now, nothing more than a spectator to his own life as he plodded along to do just as he was told, like a good soldier.

* * *

Rian's limbs felt unusually heavy as he ascended the trunk of the towering, old tree. This particular tree was one of his favorites in all the forest. It was easy to climb, and when the sky was clear and the sisters shone as brightly as they did tonight, one could see the entirety of Stone-in-the-Wood from its sturdy branches. He'd brought Mira up here on their first date to show her the view, and since then it had become their favorite meeting place.

He hoped that Mira was still there. He’d taken much longer with Maudra Fara than he'd initially thought, and it was hours past their usual meeting time. _Oh Mira_... How on Thra was he going to tell her?

Thankfully however, it seemed that Mira hadn't given up on him despite the lateness of the hour, and he found her perched atop their favorite branch. The brightness of moonlight illuminated her hunched form, and her white braids obscured her face as she sharpened her spear over one knee. "There you are. For a moment there, I thought you’d been thrown in the rascal hole after all...but I bet you’d prefer that to marrying a Grottan, wouldn’t you?" She turned to glance at him from the corner of her emerald eyes.

Rian felt his mouth fall open. "...So you know?"

She dropped her head back and sighed. "So, it's true then... Half stone-in-the-wood's abuzz with it, though most don't believe it yet."

"I can hardly believe it myself. It all happened so fast...” Rian settled himself on the branch next to her.

Mira nodded slowly, her eyes still locked down on the spear in her lap. The moonlight glinted off it's tip and made her platinum braids shine like snow. Rian opened his mouth to say something to her, but no sound came out. Normally he found it so easy to talk to her, but now...now he couldn't think of a single thing to say.

"Well..." Mira broke the silence after a moment. "We always knew this was coming didn't we? You being betrothed and all, It's just not with who you thought it would be..."

"Yeah...” He averted his own eyes then. “I just thought we had more time."

She made a little hum of agreement. “Do you know when it's happening?"

"In a few weeks. They want it done as soon as possible.”

“Well in that case, I won’t be here. I was trying to decide whether or not I wanted to stick with this set of merchants, and in light of this news I think I’ll go with them after all. They’re heading out in the morning, and I’m likely to be on the road with them for at least an unum or two...maybe longer”

Rian kept his eyes trained down and tried to swallow around the knot that was still tied tightly in his throat. "I don't know if it makes it better or worse for me not to have you there..."

"Trust me, it’s better if I’m not.” She turned her head to glance up at him, a familiar glint of mischief in her emerald eyes. “Don’t know if I could resist slapping the snot out of the little git they’re calling your bride, then I’d be in the rascal hole for life.”

He laughed then, heartily and from his stomach. “You would, wouldn’t you...”

Mira gave a little half-laugh of her own before setting her jaw. “I still can’t believe it though... Honestly, what is Fara thinking? Wasting a nice Stonewood boy like you on a _Grottan_.” She practically spat out the last word. “You know, I’ve heard that they don’t take baths, and that the scent of one them could knock a grown landstrider clean over! You mark my words, there’s a reason why they never leave that pot hole they call home.”

He chuckled. “I’ve heard they can’t read. And that they’re so ugly they have faces that not even a mother could love...ah, but then..." He paused, trying to find some sort of silver lining in this situation. "Maybe it won’t be quite as bad as it seems. My father seems to think it could work, and he's always spoken well enough of the Grottans when he talks about the battle of Stone-in-the-Wood...”

She grew quiet then and set her spear aside. “Let’s not talk any more about _her_ tonight Rian. Let’s just enjoy our time together...or whatever’s left of it, that is.” She scooted up close to him and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes as she did so.

“Yeah,” Rian dropped his head to rest atop hers. “Let’s do that.”

Rian closed his own eyes then, burying his nose in her hair to take in her scent deeply. He wanted to drink in every single detail of what could very well be his last stolen moment with Mira, before he was married and mated for life to a girl he'd never even laid eyes on...

...Really though, Mira was right. What was Maudra Fara thinking? Even if this wedding did manage to bring the clans together to defeat the Arathim, the relationship itself was certain to be a disaster. After all, who ever heard of a Stonewood and a Grottan together? It could never work.


	2. An Anxious Evening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K, first things first: the amount of interest and support this story has already attracted after just one chapter is honestly amazing to me, (seriously the first chapter alone has almost as many comments as my previous most commented story had on the whole thing) and I couldn't be more thankful for all the wonderful comments, kudos, and bookmarks I've received!! You guys are the best. <3 
> 
> Chapter two is here and it features Deet's POV. I plan on swapping POVs between her and Rian for different chapters. 
> 
> It also features one of her fathers, who apparently have names if the wiki is to be believed. Mitjan is the one who wears the hat in the series, I believe. At least that's who I meant it to be when I wrote it lol. 
> 
> Also, for some reason I forgot that Maudra Argot is blind in the series (and in all my other stories too, whoops) but here she can see, just not very well. 
> 
> Ok I've rambled enough. Onwards to chapter 2!

Deethra had never seen so many lights in all her life. Of course she knew that there were lights in the sky on the surface, she’d read about them in books and heard tales of them from the Grottans who had been to the surface before. But as she lay flat on her back atop a downy sleeping roll beneath the open sky, she couldn’t help but feel that no description she’d heard had done them justice.

The night sky was vast and intimidating, with tiny white lights twinkling as far as her dark eyes could see in every direction, like a thousand paper lanterns bobbing on the surface of an endless black sea. Not even Maudra Argot herself with her peculiar way of putting things had made them sound so, so...

“Breathtaking, aren’t they Deethra?” Deet’s long ears were perked by the voice of Maudra Argot, and she turned her head to see her mentor's stooping form stalking her way towards the campfire. Her wrinkled face was turned skywards as she leaned her weight on her waking stick. “Or at least, I think they are, from what little I can see of them-ha!” Maudra Argot, though half blind in her old age still possessed the zeal of a gelfling just out of her childhood. 

"Well, I don't see what's all that great about them." Said Deet’s father, Mitjan from where he sat hunched over on a moss-covered tree stump, whittling a chunk of wood away into shavings. "Just a buncha little dots! It's all too big and open, makes me feel exposed... Besides, glow moss is just as pretty, if you ask me."

“No one did ask you, you old nebrie.” Maudra Argot plopped herself down on an upturned log, her her tiny feet kicking up in the air as she did so.

Deet giggled at their bickering before sitting up in her bed roll and bringing her arms around to hug her knees. "I agree with Maudra Argot, father. I think the stars are lovely! Most things on the surface are."

"Ha! hear that, Mitjan? Why can't you be more like your daughter and look on the bright side of things? Grot's sake! The way you've been pouting this whole trip, you'd think we were heading to Deethra's funeral rather than her wedding."

Mitjan sighed and lowered his head, the brim of his hat covering his eyes as he returned his knife to it's nurloc leather holster on his belt.

Maudra Argot humphed. “Fine then, be like that! Like it or not, it won’t be long now.” She leaned her weight forwards on her waking stick from where she sat on the log. “We should be making it in to Stone-in-the-Wood by morning, and not a moment too soon! We can’t deliver the bride-to-be late to her own wedding, now can we childling?” She asked, turning her attention to Deet.

Deet forced a nervous laugh and shook her head. “No, that wouldn’t be a good first impression at all. And I do want the Stonewoods to like me...”

Her father snapped his head up at her. "If they don't like you, then they're nothing but a lot of air-headed fools. And they don't deserve you besides!"

Argot banged her stick down on the ground. "Here now, that's the first thing of sense you've said this whole trip, Mitjan!"

Deet looked down at the ground and fidgeted with her braids, both embarrassed and touched by her loved ones' high opinions of her. The conversation faded into silence then, with only the crackling of the dying campfire and the soft chirps of surface-dwelling creatures sounding in the background.

Deet knew that she should really be trying to get some sleep now, after all she had a very big day ahead of her tomorrow. They hoped to arrive at Stone-in-the-Wood by mid-morning to get everyone unpacked, and the warriors they’d brought from Grot settled into their temporary living arrangements. Then in the evening she would be formally introduced to her betrothed and his father for the first time, and they would rehearse the steps for the wedding ceremony. Then they’d all have dinner together, and then the day after that...she’d get married, to this Stonewood boy, _Rian_...

Deet took a stuttering breath as she felt the crawlies in her stomach start acting up again, they’d been squirming around in her body ever since the day she’d consented to the betrothal. When Maudra Argot had first brought up the idea of her marrying a Stonewood boy, Deet honestly thought it was a joke. Her mentor did have a peculiar sense of humor like that. But no, as Maudra Argot gingerly took her hand and proceeded to explain the situation to her, Deet had realized that it couldn’t have been anything further from funny.

The uptick in Arathim activity that the Stonewoods were plagued by was beginning to make it's way to Grot too. The creatures were being spotted lurking around in the caves these days, and a group of spitters had even swarmed together to attack and kill a prize nurloc. She’d seen the mangled corpse of the poor beast for herself, and though she had heard stories of what the Arathim were capable of from those who had fought in the war, the sight of what they’d done to that poor nurloc still shook her to her core.

The way the wounds had been inflicted was just so savage and vicious, almost as if it were done as a warning. A blatant display the sheer power the creatures possessed when they came together as one to ravage their prey...And, Deet shuttered, just what would happen to her clan if the Arathim decided to turn their attentions from the nurlocs, to the gelfling who tended them instead?

Deethra had learned a good deal about what it meant to be a Maudra since she’d been chosen ten trine ago by Maudra Argot as a little girl. Being a Maudra meant making sure that everyone had clothes on their backs, and food at their table, even when times were scarce. It meant knowing how to solve arguments and strife between gelfling that could be anything from a petty disagreement, to a bloodthirsty quarrel. It meant knowing how to heal all manor of illness and injuries, from the smallest scrape of a childling’s knee, to a warrior’s gaping wound. It meant holding the hands of mothers as they labored to give life to the newest generation, and also holding the hands of old and sick when Thra was calling them home.

But if there was one lesson that stood put above all the rest, it was that being a Maudra meant making sacrifices. A Maudra always had to do what was best for her clan: even if what was best for the clan, wasn't always what was best for herself. And if Deet’s marrying this Stonewood boy could save her clan and stop another Arathim war before it even started...well then, as a future Maudra the choice she had to make was clear, wasn't it?

Deet sighed and shook herself from her thoughts. She rolled over to grab the bag she’d been carrying with her the whole trip. She opened it up and rifled around through it, digging past the various herbs, tinctures, and other items used for healing until she finally found what she was looking for, and pulled it out into the light of the stars.

It was a boy's traveling cloak, hand-crafted with care from nurloc skin. She had made it herself as a wedding present for her betrothed. The exterior was made from the tougher parts of the hide for protection from the elements of the surface, while the interior was lined with the rump for softness and warmth. She hoped that it would fit him, since she had ended up finishing it on the road and she had no idea what his measurements were. They had left so fast that there hadn't been time to send word away to ask for them. She'd scarcely even had time to say goodbye to her other father and her younger brother...

She bit back the wave of tears that was welling up inside of her now, as she thought back to the look in her father, Lath'N's eyes the day she'd bid him and her little brother, Bobb'n goodbye. She wished that they could be there for her wedding, but Bobb'n was too young to undertake the long trip to Stone-in-the-Wood, especially at the vigorous pace they were setting. And someone had to stay behind to look after the family herd of nurlocs while Mitjan accompanied her on the journey.

Deet rubbed the fabric of the cloak’s hood between her thumb and forefinger. She hoped that her betrothed would would like it. She didn’t really know much about him at all, except that he was the son of of Ordon, Captain of the Stonewood guard. And that Maudra Fara had wanted him to wed her successor before all this Arathim business came about. But as far as his looks or his character went, she was nearly as blind the bats in the caves back home.

“Can you tell me anymore about _him_ , Maudra Argot?” Asked Deet.

“Afraid I don’t have anything new for you since the last ten times you’ve asked me, childling. But if you insist, I’ll tell you what I know again. I’ve never laid eyes on him any more than you have, so I can’t vouch for his looks, but Fara’s told me that he’s a good warrior like his father, and that he’s strong, and brave, and very kind.”

Deet pursed her lips together and nodded slowly. “So long as he’s kind, that’s all that matters to me... I don’t care how he looks.”

Maudra Argot gave Deet an impish little smirk. “I wouldn’t worry too much about his looks dear, if he bears any resemblance to his father from back when he was young in the war-times, then he’s apt to be _quite_ a stud!” Maudra Argot cackled like a delighted schoolgirl as Mitjan lowered his head to glare daggers at her.

Maudra Argot cocked her head at Mitjan. “Ah what are you looking so sour about now, hhmm? Don’t you want grandchildren?”

“Of course I do.” He said through gritted teeth. “But I want it to be when Deethra’s ready for it, and with a boy _she_ chooses.”

“But father, you’re forgetting.” Said Deet. “I did choose him. I said yes all on my own accord, nobody’s forcing me to marry him.”

“Oh yes.” Mitjan rolled his eyes. “Marry this daylighter boy, or have the whole clan get swallowed alive by spitters. My, what a choice!”

“Father don’t call him a daylighter!”

“And why shouldn’t I? They call us much worse! You know there’s some of them that actually think we don’t take baths? And even after all we did to save their hides at the the battle of Stone-in-the-Wood.”

“We?” Maudra Argot piped up. “Unless my memory’s starting to go like my eyes, I don’t recall you being at the battle of Stone-in-the-Wood, Mitjan.”

_oh no_...Deet bit her lip as she watched Mitjan's eyes flare up and his spine snap ramrod straight.

"Well _someone_ had to stay behind and look after the caves!" He sputtered out his defense as though he was seated in a courtroom, rather than on a tree stump. "And I couldn't leave Lath'N behind either. We’d just gotten married ourselves, and I wanted to be there to protect him in case the creatures attacked Grot! You know how soft-hearted he is Maudra, he could never raise a hand against anything..." Mitjan's features softened ever so slightly as he spoke about his own mate.

"...Father," Deet said gently. "I’m sure Maudra Argot didn't mean anything by that.” That probably wasn't true. “And no one think any less of you for what you did or didn’t do in the war.” That was true, at least as far as Deet herself was concerned.

Mitjan glanced over at his daughter with spooked eyes before sighing and leaning his weight forward on his knees. “I’m sorry Deethra, I got a bit carried away there... I know I haven’t exactly been a peach lately, but I can’t help but worry over you...” He kicked at some of the wood shavings he’d left on the ground earlier before the corners of his mouth twitched upwards with nostalgia. “I remember the day when you first came to your father and I. You were such a tiny little thing, no more than two or three trine. But already you were so kind, and gentle, and clever...we knew right away that you were something special. And Maudra Argot choosing you just confirmed what we already knew: you were meant to do great things...”

His smile began to fade. “And then this whole marriage business comes along and now...Now you’re being treated like you're nothing more than livestock: bartered, and traded, and bred... it’s just not right.” He sighed again and hung his head.

Deet rose up from her bedroll then. She crossed over the forest floor with bare feet, before bending down on her knees and wrapping her father up in a warm hug. He stiffened at first, but she felt him ease in her embrace as he let his head droop down to rest on her shoulder. When she finally parted from him, she stayed kneeling on the forest floor and grabbed him by the shoulders “Father, I love you. And I love Bobb’n and Father back at home too. And the nurlocs, and all our friends, and every single soul who lives in our caves, gelfling or otherwise...I love Grot. I love our clan father, and that's _why_ I want to do this.” She gave his shoulders a firm squeeze.

"I appreciate you worrying over me so... but if there's anything I've learned from Maudra Argot, it's that being a Maudra means making hard choices. And if my marrying this Stonewood boy is the choice that's going to save our clan... well then that's just the choice I have to make!” She stuck out her chin emphatically as she finished, almost daring him to challenge her again.

He didn't challenge her though. Instead he stared back at her, dumbfounded before a wide and warm smile spread over his face, the corners of his eyes glinting with pride. "...This is why you're meant to be a Maudra, aren't you, glow worm?"

She smiled a little herself then at hearing him call her his favorite pet name, and she darted her eyes off to the side as he brought one of his warm, green hands up to grip her arm. He patted it firmly before she took her hands off his shoulders and stood up straight before him.

He sighed and crossed his arms. "All right Deet, I trust you. If this is truly what you want, then I'll try to be better behaved about this whole thing from now on...but if that dayli—I mean, if that Stonewood boy ever so much as raises a single hand against you, I reserve the right to castrate him."

" _Father_..." She slapped him on the arm as she stifled a snort of laughter.

"Nobody’s castrating anyone!” Maudra Argot banged her walking stick on the ground. “The boy’s not a brute, for Thra’s sake! Fara wouldn’t have wanted him for her own heir if he was. Trust me, she knows that there’s too much riding on this for both of our clans for her to dare give our Deethra any less than her very best.”

Mitjan sighed again before pressing his mouth into a thin, flat line. “Well Maudra, for Deet’s sake I certainly hope you’re right...”

Deet gulped as the crawlies in her stomach began to act up again. Slowly, she turned around to stare at the bright orange embers of the dying campfire as they danced before her dark eyes. _I hope so too,_ she thought as she watched them smolder away into the darkness of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!! I know this chapter wasn't terribly exciting, but now that the stage is all set I think we can finally get a couple of dorks to meet-cute in chapter three which, fingers-crossed, should be coming next Saturday. :)
> 
> I actually finished this chapter a few days ago, but I waited until now to post it because I want this story to have consistent updates every Saturday. (Or every other Saturday if work gets intense for me) and it gives me more time to work on the next chapter!
> 
> Feedback is appreciated, and as always happy shipping!! <3


	3. A first Impression

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meet-cute, Meet-cute, M̤̣̟̻̼͖͙e̳̭̻̳̲̹͉e̟̱ṭ̪̟̬ͅ-̮͇c͖̹̜̫̼u͙̙t̩̯̣̱̻̞e, ͕̘͔M̖͇̪̝̫̠͖e̱͚e̙̰ṱ̯̪̦̩͎̤-͚̲cut̹̰͇̫͈̭e̜̦̫͕̗͈͙,̥̝ ̹̦M̫̜̲ẹe̜̬̫̰̹͓̲t̖̜̮̳̝̘-cut̬̘e͍, ̤̘͈̮͇M͍̩̼͍ͅE͚͙̰E̼Ṱ̰̣̫̝̗̳-̥͚C̞̩Ṷ͇T̹̮̩̪͙E̜͉̰̲͖̥̜,̯ ͓̗͉͈͇̤M̺̝̜EE̖͖̼̙͇̫ͅȚ̯͕̘̦͕͎-͔C̞͇̱̟͇͖̤U̫̬̲T̟E͖͚̯,̟͍ M̫̳̠̰͕E͇̼̦̣͓ET̯̩-̲̯͖̗̮͙̣C̞̻̱͖͓̺U͔T͓̞̰̝E
> 
> Ahem...excuse me. I decided to go ahead and post this a day early, because tomorrow is a busy day for me. This chapter pushes the T rating a little bit, but I plan on upping this to an M later on, so just FYI.

Rian sighed and leaned his head back as the dappled sunlight shone on his face through the canopy of trees. He ran a hand through his dark hair as he paced along the riverside, heading a short ways downstream of Stone-in-the-Wood while dry leaves crunched beneath his boots. It had been quite a while since he'd gotten a moment like this to himself, and this was probably the last chance he would have before the rehearsal tonight and wedding tomorrow.

Since the day he'd consented to the betrothal with the Grottan girl, his whole world had been flipped on it's ear, and life had become one big blur of fussing and fretting and planning. One day he'd been just another Stonewood guard going about his duties, and then next he was being fitted for a wedding suit and having samples for fabrics, and food, and floral arrangements shoved in his face from every direction.

Maudra Fara had encouraged him to be involved with the planning process, but he was still too busy processing the shock that he was about to be a married gelfling to have possibly cared any less about what color the tablecloths at the wedding banquet were. So he generally just forced a smile and said "surprise me", allowing the planners decide everything for him. The one thing he did exercise some control over however, was the ring for his bride. It was nothing much, just a little something special that he’d always wanted to do whenever it was he got married...oh Thra, he was really getting married tomorrow wasn’t he? And he’d be meeting the girl he was going to spend the rest of his life with in just a few short hours...

The Grottans had started to arrive sometime around mid-morning, and a crowd of curious Stonewood gelfling soon flocked together to watch the warriors enter the village and try to steal a peek of the girl that one of their own was going to marry. Rian really should have gone out to greet them, introduced himself and offered to help them unpack, but he was in no mood to be sociable then. He had enough smiling and waving to do tonight at the rehearsal dinner tonight and at his wedding tomorrow, and he needed all the strength he could muster to endure it.

So rather than playing the part of the diplomatic bridegroom, he turned tail like a frightened fizzgig and hid back in the crowd before he retreated to the forest, and eventually ended up walking along the riverside. This particular offshoot of the main river that ran past Stone-in-the-Wood was one of his favorites. It’s gentle, meandering pace as it cut through the Endless Wood was made especially soothing by the soft trickling of waterfalls of various sizes and heights as it descended downhill and downstream. Presently, he came up to a point in the river where the water fell over a rocky edge in a tall thin sheet, and formed a lake-like pool at the bottom, dotted with rocks and patches of thick reeds along the bank.

Rian came up to the edge of the bank and smiled, staring at the waterfall as memories of simpler times came flooding over him; times before weddings and wars...His father used to bring him here when he was just a childling still learning how to swim. He used to jump off the top of the waterfall to try and see how big of a splash he could make, while his mother would scold him to be careful and stifle laughter at his antics. She was still alive then too...

Rian cocked his head as he gazed down at the edge of the babbling water...just how long had it been since he’d last gone for a swim here? Biting the inside of his cheek, he unlaced one of his boots and swiped an experimental foot into the riverside. Though technically it was only the tail end of summer, the great trees of the Endless Wood had already begun to shift their hues, and an autumnal nip was in the winds. But Rian found that he didn’t mind the chill of autumn that bit at his toes when he dipped them beneath the surface. Rather, he found the cold to be bracing. And after so much time feeling numb, like a ghost inside of his own body, he welcomed the feeling of anything at all. Maybe a shock to the system was exactly what he needed right now...

With a quick glance over his shoulder to be certain that he was alone, He hooked his thumbs under the hem of his earth-tone tunic and lifted it over his head. His other boot and trousers soon followed until he was standing on the riverbank completely bare. He came up to the river’s edge and began to wade in, hissing at the initial contact of the cold water on his exposed skin. It was crisp and sharp like a slap to the face, but it was exactly what he needed in this moment. Holding his breath, he ducked under the water and let himself fully submerge, allowing the forest around him to fade into oblivion. He surfaced with a sigh, running his fingers through his wet hair and undoing his braids to lie flat against his head.

He waded out to the center of the river and planted his feet firmly on the rocky bottom, allowing himself to stand tall in the middle of the gentle current. As the water flowed past him and formed ripples against his bare chest, he stared down at his reflection and ran a hand over an almost-faded red mark near his collar bone. Mira had left that on him the day he’d agreed to the marriage, the last night he’d spent with her...

Like most nights he spent with Mira it ended in his bed. Unlike most nights however, from the moment they shut the bedroom door there was a certain understanding between the two of them: an unspoken agreement that if this was the last chance they’d ever get to tangle up in the sheets together; then by Thra, they were going to make the most of it. They held absolutely nothing back from each-other that night, and why should they have? He'd never be able to touch and be touched by her again after he was pair-bonded to another girl.

He awoke the morning after sprawled across half the bed on his stomach, the blanket lazily strewn over his lower half as he blinked himself awake in the mid-morning suns. It was much later than he normally rose, but thankfully Maudra Fara had told him not to worry about his duties as a guard until the wedding was over. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair and rolled over with a groan, taking notice that there was no one abed with him.

His eyes searched around the room, squinting against the intensity of the morning light until they finally found the silhouette of Mira standing in the bedroom doorway. She was already fully dressed in her clothes from the night before, and her back was turned to him as her nimble fingers worked to re-braid her snowy hair. Her spear sat propped up against the wall as she did so. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up at edge of the bed before reaching down to grab a stray pair of trousers on the floor. "Leaving already?" He asked as he yanked them up over his legs.

She hummed in affirmation. "The merchants are leaving soon, and I've got to get on the road with them.” She sighed. “I have a lot of waking to do today, and I’m already a little sore...”

Rian winced at the thought of her being in pain the whole way. He supposed they did get a bit carried away last night. “Well, look at it this way...” His tone rose mischievously as he stood to his feet. “Now you get to think of me with every step of the journey...”

He expected her to scoff at that, or throw a raunchy retort back at him like she always did, but instead she stayed silent while her fingers worked to put the finishing touches in her hair. And though the season was wrong for it, Rian swore that he could feel a wintry chill in the air as he darted his eyes down to his bare feet on the wooden floor.

She threw her finished braid over her shoulder and bent down to grab her spear. "Well, suppose I should get going now..."

"Mira, wait!" He took a hasty step towards her. "When can I see you again? I mean, when are you coming back to Stone-in-the-Wood?"

Mira’s spine snapped straight and she froze in place as though she were sculpted from solid ice.

"I-I mean, I know we can't do _this_ anymore. But, we can still see each other as friends...right?"

She sighed, gripping the spear in her hands a little tighter as she kept her back to him. "...I don't know Rian."

"...What?"

"I don't know if coming back to Stone-in-the-Wood. Ever."

He blinked, wondering if his ears were working properly as he took another step towards her. "...Mira what are you-"

"I don't know if I can stand it Rian!” He jolted in place at her sudden outburst, her voice cracking like the snapped string of a lute. “I...I just don’t know if I can stand to see you, and be around you knowing that you belong to someone else. And know that it really is over..." She made a soft choking sound as her words trailed off, and she raised a freckled hand up to her face.

Was she...crying? He'd never seen her cry before. "Mira don't go just yet, please. let's...let's just stay and talk a moment and-"

"Goodbye Rian." She squared her shoulders and threw open the bedroom door, bolting out of it as fast as she could possibly go.

"Mira wait!" He took off after her, but she'd used her wings to boost herself. And by the time he reached the spot where she'd been standing just seconds ago, she had already gone out the front door for good, leaving him standing alone in the bedroom doorway. The only evidence he had that she'd even been a part of his life at all, were the marks she'd left on his body from their last night together. Yet most of them had healed over by now as he stood chest deep in the river, so soon enough he wouldn’t even have those...Rian sank down under the water and sighed, blowing a stream of bubbles out of his nose as he did so. Going for a swim wasn't exactly clearing his mind the way he thought it would...

He let himself still under the current then, closing his eyes and poking only his head above water like a nebrie in the swamp. He tried to relax as he took in the song of the forest around him: The gentle trickling of the river, the chirping of the birds and skittering of tiny creatures, the crackling of the leaves as the breeze went drifting through the trees and...and what was that rustling? He snapped opened his eyes as his ears twitched at attention.

He scanned around in the direction it had come from, but found nothing out of place. He shrugged and decided that it was probably just an animal, before re-closing his eyes and sinking back into the water. But he had no more closed his eyes for a second when he heard it again. He swiveled his head around to look over his shoulder just in time to see a patch of thick reeds rustling back and forth just a little ways downstream.

He stopped and stared, frozen in place like a beast on the hunt. That could very well be just an animal, one of the forest creatures that lived in the woods around this river. Unless... unless it wasn’t. Rian felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, but not from the chill of the water. There hadn’t yet been any sightings of Arathim this close to Stone-in-the-Wood, but...he had better make certain that this wasn't the first. What sort of guard would he be if he didn’t?

He muttered a curse under his breath for forgetting to carry his sword with him before grabbing up a discarded tree branch on the edge of the water to use as a makeshift weapon.

Slowly, so as not to make any splashes, he glided through the water towards the thicket of reeds, wielding the tree branch in one hand like he would an axe. As he approached the reeds, he became aware of the sound of soft breathing being carried to his ears. There was very much something alive in those reeds, and he got the distinct feeling that whatever it was did not want to be found. Cocking back the branch and poising ready to strike, he came up to the edge of the reeds and whipped them out of the way with his free hand. He let out a war cry as he pulled them back, but he was surprised to find that what greeted him was not the hissing of an Arathim, but rather the scream of a frightened gelfling girl.

He didn’t have a chance to react, as the next thing he knew there was a rock being flung at him, ramming him straight in the temple with the force of a charging nebrie. He dropped his tree branch with a cry of pain and floundered backwards, bringing one of his hands up to cradle the spot where he’d just been struck as it started to throb.

“Oh-oh my, I’m sorry!” He heard a soft, feminine voice say. “I didn’t mean to...Here, let me look at that.” He felt a lithe hand grab his wrist and lead him towards the river bank.

His eyes fluttered open as he heard the sound of the girl surfacing from the water, and he soon felt her hands hook themselves under his arm pits to try and drag him up onto the riverbank. “Here, come over to the light and I’ll-Oh sweet Grot, you’re _naked_!” She released her grip on him and flew back from his body as though he had suddenly transformed into a live eel. And he slipped straight back into the water, banging his head on the bank as he did so.

"Ow."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Here, I’ll be right back...” She darted away into the reeds and returned after a moment carrying a grey, girl’s cloak in one of her hands. Using her other hand to cover her eyes, she tossed the cloak over in his direction and it landed straight on the bank in front of him. “Use that to cover up with!”

"T-thank you." He heaved himself out of the water and snatched up the cloak, tying it around his waist like a towel.

When his modesty was secured, she returned to him carrying a bag, and flung it down to her side before crouching down on her knees in front of him.“Do you feel dizzy at all? Here, focus on my finger..." She raised one of her fingers up and began to sway it side-to-side in front of his face. His eyes trained to focus on it slowly, and he followed it back and forth before she finally stilled it in the air between them.

It was only then that his eyes finally focused enough to get a good look at the owner of the finger, the girl who was simultaneously his assailant and his savior. She was no girl he knew or had ever seen before, and judging by her coloring she definitely wasn't Stonewood.

Like himself she was also sopping wet, but she wore a thin, white chemise to cover herself. Her skin was a pale, creamy green like the color of a springtime moss. And her un-braided, blonde hair lay flat against her head, the water it was soaked with made the strands sparkle like silver in the forest suns. Her eyes were a deep, amber brown as well, so deep that he couldn’t even see the whites in them as they stared at him from behind a set of thick, dark lashes. And he could see his own slack-jawed face reflecting back at himself in their concerned expression.

His mouth hung open for a moment or two longer before he finally found his voice and answered her. "N-no, I'm not dizzy."

She sighed in relief and lowered her hand. "That's good at least... I'm so sorry I hit you! You just scared the cave lights out of me, and I panicked."

 _‘Cave lights’_? ...Oh, she was probably one of the Grottans, wasn’t she? But he didn’t understand, weren’t they supposed to be ugly?

“No, I'm sorry.” He said. “It’s my fault for frightening you. I didn't think that there was anyone else was out here, I thought you were an Arathim.”

"No really, it's my fault. I shouldn't even be all the way out here by myself in the first place. I just...' She fidgeted with her green hands. "I just have a lot on my mind lately, and I needed to get away for a bit..."

"...so you too, huh?"

She hummed in affirmation before her ears twitched and her head popped up. "Wait, 'you too'?”

"Well, yes actually..." He brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck. "I have a lot on my mind too, as it were...and I thought maybe a swim would clear my head."

"I didn't set out to swim. I was just on a walk by the river and I found this place..." She looked out pensively over the water. "...There was a place back home in the caves like this, with a waterfall and everything, When I was a childling I used to go there and swim when I felt sad or alone. And this place reminded me so much of there, so I thought that maybe..." Her ears flattened against her head as her words trailed off. "...I'm sorry, I'm rambling aren't I?"

"...No. No, not at all... I understand."

She whipped her head around to stare at him stunned eyes, before a soft little smile flickered at the corners of her lips. Rian swallowed hard, she had a rather nice smile...

"...So I take it you're from Grot then, are you here for the wedding?" He asked.

Her eyes widened for a split second before she darted them back down the the ground. "Oh, um...yes..." She squeaked out the words and started fidgeting with her hands again. Looking as though she would very much like to change the subject, she flitted her eyes back up towards the bump on his temple and pointed at it. "That bump's really not as bad as it looks, you know. You're lucky I don't have a great arm."

He rubbed it again and sighed. "It's still apt to leave a knot though..." And right before his wedding too... he'd have to think of a decent-enough lie and pray to Thra that no one would discover the truth of how he'd actually gotten it. He didn't think his betrothed would take it all too well if she discovered that he had been running around in his birthday suit with another girl on the eve of their wedding...

The Grottan girl pursed her lips. "Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that..." She reached over for the bag she'd brought with her and rifled through it for a moment or two before pulling out a small, wooden container into the light. When she threw the lid of the box open, Rian lurched back and nearly gagged as a foul scent assaulted his nostrils.

"I know, it smells awful." She said as she dipped her fingers into the box, swirling a blue-ish goop onto her fingers. "But it's good stuff, I promise! It'll take the swelling right down and you won't even be able to see a bump. It's like my mentor always says: smells bad, heals good!" She sat the box aside and gestured towards his temple. "May I?"

"Oh, sure. Go ahead." He gave her permission and she scooted in close to him on her knees. She then took her other hand and angled his head to give her easier access to the bump on his temple. Her green fingers were feather light against his skin as she applied the healing balm on his bump, which felt cool and soothing to the touch.

Rian suddenly became acutely aware of just how _close_ she was to him then, and how little barrier there was between them.  
He was still completely nude, save for that little, grey cloak wrapped around his waist. And though she was wearing an undergarment, the white fabric of the chemise was thin, and the way that it clung tightly to her wet body made it nearly transparent in parts. And the way his head was angled in their current position meant that his eye-line was pointing straight down at her chest... Rian was again reminded to be thankful that she'd given him something to cover his lower half with... _very_ thankful indeed.

He averted his eyes to the side and tried to ignore the little flicker of heat that was steadily rising in his core as she finished tending to his bump.

When she finally finished, she scooted back on her haunches and wiped her fingers off, surveying her work with pride. “There! That should do the trick.”

“That actually does feel a little better already.” The balm was definitely fast acting, and Rian could already feel the pounding in his skull beginning to lessen.

She nodded with enthusiasm. “It’s good stuff! It’s made out of special herbs that only grow in the caves, and bat gua-...well never mind what it’s made of, it does wonders! I'm glad I made this batch up fresh just before we left.”

“So you’re a healer then?”

“Oh, yes...” she bit her lip and looked down at the ground, her ears tilting down slightly. But a split second later, they popped straight back up with a twinkle in her brown eyes. “I’m...I’m here to help look after the warriors.”

Rian nodded in understanding, that made sense. Though Stone-in-the-wood had plenty of healers, they would need all the healing hands they could get if it ever actually came down to combat. And of course the Grottans would definitely prefer to be treated by their own clan, especially if all their healers were as gentle as she was.

He opened his mouth to ask for her name, but before he got the words out he was interrupted by a distant, clanging sound that was being carried through the wind from quite a bit upstream. Rian recognized it as the bell they rang to mark the passing of the hours in Stone-in-the-Wood.

They both turned their heads towards the origin of the bell's song as it rang out through the forest. “It’s...It’s already that late?” The girl’s voice quavered for a moment before she shot up onto her feet. She scrambled to get her things together, and shoved the container with the balm back into her bag before she flung it over her shoulder. “Listen, it was nice meeting you, and I’m sorry again for hitting you, but I have to go!” She ran back into the reeds before briefly returning with a set of girl’s clothes in her arms. “If your head is still bothering you later, then put a cold cloth on it or make yourself a cup of tea. Now I _really_ do have to go...Goodbye!” With that she turned on her heel and bolted away through the reeds, her wings stirring to life behind her.

“Ah, wait!” He called after her, but he heard the tell-tale flapping of wings as she began to speed her way back upstream and uphill, leaving him sitting slack-jawed and alone on the riverbank. “...You forgot your cloak.” It was still wrapped around his waist, and he didn’t get her name before she flew off. How was he going to return it to her? She’d be bound to want it back, it was good and warm and whatever it was lined with was incredibly soft on his skin, some sort of animal hide maybe? It was rather nice...she was rather nice, actually.

It was the first time he'd ever met a Grottan before, and though he had begun to suspect that the nasty rumors about them were a tad exaggerated, he had never expect that just one girl could prove every, single one of them completely wrong in a single fell swoop. She wasn't dirty or dingy at all, and she was smart too; she really seemed to know her stuff when it came to healing. And her touch was so gentle and soft like silk against his skin, not brutish or crude even in the slightest. And her smile...

He sighed and shook his head. Ah well, whoever she was, he'd best forget about her for now. Maybe after the wedding he could try to find her with the Grottan warriors and see about getting her cloak back to her. Maybe they could talk some more then too, she had a nice, melodic voice like little chimes in the wind...

...No.

No, stop that. He scolded himself. Whatever this wild little notion that might or might not have been flitting around in the back of his mind was, he couldn't afford to entertain it. For Thra's sake! Mira hadn't even been gone for an unum, and more importantly than that: he was getting married tomorrow, and the rehearsal was happening tonight. Rian rose to his feet on the bank and started making his way back to where he'd shed his own clothing earlier. He had better get going himself, he still needed to get in a proper bath and try to groom himself into a clean, presentable state for the rehearsal. It was just a few hours away now, and he was beginning to worry that his hair might not be dry by then.

Rian found his clothes on the side of the bank and hastily began to re-dress himself. He tried to put this Grottan girl, whoever she was out of his mind as he slipped his tunic over his head. He needed all his wits about him now, so that he could make the best first impression possible on the girl that he was marrying...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! This chapter was actually inspired by the scene in Game of Thrones where Grey Worm spies on Missandei while she’s bathing in a river, since the lovely Nathalie Emmanuel is both Missandei and the VA for our very own Deet. Even though this final draft turned out NOTHING like the GoT scene lol
> 
> Next chapter: Rian and Deet get _properly_ introduced, and the wedding rehearsal goes awry.


	4. Reunions and Rehearsals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 is here! And another day early, or: Deet and the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad, pre-wedding day.
> 
> I have no idea if ‘citadel’ is the right word to use here, but I imagine that Fara’s meeting room/council chamber we saw in the series is part of a larger network of buildings that serve as a hub for the capital and idk what else to call it. So we’re going with citadel. *shrugs* 
> 
> Also, I think it’s canon that Grottans don’t take baths, but it’s my AU and I say they bathe. :p
> 
> Nothing graphic, but I’m just going to remind everyone that the minor dub-con tag is on this story, and that there are some elements of that in this chapter. 
> 
> Ok, onwards!

Deet half-ran, half-flew back uphill towards the village, her wet hair streaming behind her in the wind. As she went, she hastily re-dressed herself, throwing her grey dress back over her head and yanking her leggings back up in-between her long strides. She didn’t even pause to put on her boots, rather she kept going by hobbling on one foot as she tugged them back onto her feet one at a time, not even bothering to lace them.

She had been gone for far longer than she should have, and Maudra Argot and her father were probably beside themselves trying to find her. What could she say though? She really had lost track of the time...

The crawlies in her stomach had been back with a vengeance from the moment she opened her eyes that morning, and they became nigh unbearable once they’d arrived at Stone-in-the-Wood. Deet could feel the eyes on her like a z’nid bird on a nurloc from the second they crossed she threshold into the village; watching her every move, inspecting her, judging her...

She could see the fingers pointing at her from the corner of her eyes too, and hear their hushed-but-not-hushed whispers as they gawked at her from mere feet away. She could only pick up bits and pieces of what they were saying with her long ears, but what little she did hear was enough to make her skin crawl:

“Ugh, so dirty! I can smell her from here.”

“Ugly little cave mite.”

“...more water in her head than a wash-tub!”

“Poor Rian, can you imagine...with that?”

Deet could scarcely believe her own ears. Her father had warned her, in so many words, that surface dwellers didn’t exactly have the highest opinions of Grottans, but...she’d never imagined that they would be so...so _cruel_.

Of course it was true that she was a little dirty, weeks on the road without a bath would do that to any gelfling but... _ugly?_ And how could they possibly know if she was dull or not when they hadn’t even met her?

With every taunt and rude remark, Deet felt another chip of what little confidence she had to begin with crumble away, until she was left feeling smaller than a single speck of glow moss. She found herself glad that her father’s hearing wasn’t what it used to be, so that at least he was spared from the awful things they were saying about her.

Not even the guard that Maudra Fara had sent out to greet them was exempt from the Stonewood scorn, and she squirmed under the gaze of his harsh, searching eyes, judging her from behind a diplomatic smile. And when the guard began to lead her, Maudra Argot, and her father away on a tour of the village, Deet decided that she couldn’t stand it for another moment.

"if...if it's all the same,” said Deet, halting in place. “I think I’d rather sit out on the tour...” Maudra Argot and her father turned and looked at her as though she had just sprouted a second head. Deet felt her heart drop, great! Now even they were staring at her too...

“...are you feeling well childling? You look ill.” Maudra Argot squinted at her.

“Y-yes of course, I’m fine! Just a bit tired from the journey is all...” Deet darted her eyes to the ground. “You two go on ahead, I’ll just...hang back a bit and rest.”

“...Are you sure you’re all right Deet?” asked her father. “I can stay behind with you if you want.”

“Yes father, I’m sure.” She forced herself to meet his eyes and fake a smile. “You go on ahead. Like I said, I'm just tired...”

Mitjan nodded slowly as Deet held her breath, hoping he’d buy that. “All right glow worm, just take care that you don’t go wandering off alone...”

Deet sighed in relief and promised that she wouldn’t. But she broke that promise almost as soon as the guard had led the two of them out of sight, and she fled away into the solitude and safety of the woods. Although she knew that it was unwise to wander off by herself in a place she’d never been before, she desperately needed the escape from all the judging eyes and wagging tongues. Besides, she figured that if she followed the river then she couldn't get lost. She wandered along the stream's various tributaries and branches all morning until she’d finally found that spot with the waterfall, the place that reminded her so much of the one in Grot...

Hoping to find a little comfort in the water, she stripped down to her shimmy and tried to let the sting of the cold water wash away the sting of rejection. Here she'd been so worried about trying to make a good first impression on the Stonewoods, and it seemed that they'd already made up their minds about her before they'd even laid eyes on her... And, she gulped, if they all detested her so much when she was only marrying into the clan...what was the boy she was betrothed to bound to think of her?

She ducked her head beneath the current and tried not to think about it. She hid away in the thick reeds and sang herself songs and lullabies from back home until her voice grew hoarse and her fingers had turned to green prunes. She had been so worked up in her own thoughts, that she hadn't even known that there was another soul in the river until that Stonewood boy had snuck up on her, and she’d nearly smashed his poor head in.

Fortunately however, the boy had proved to be an awfully good sport about the whole ‘being brained with a rock’ business. And...and It was funniest thing; he was the first Stonewood she'd seen all day who had actually treated her as an equal. He didn't seem to look down on her as being inferior to himself simply because she was a Grottan, simply because she was different...

...And he said that he understood what she meant when she rambled on about being sad and lonely. And after he said that, he had the most sincere look in his eyes; the clearest, bluest eyes she’d ever seen, like the color she’d always imagined the crystal of truth would be...

"Deet!" The voice of Maudra Argot shook her from her thoughts. "Deethra! Where’ve you run off to now, childling?"

"I'm here, Maudra Argot!" Deet threw her hands up and ran towards her mentor.

"Deethra, is that you? Mitjan, here she is!" Deet approached Maudra Argot as her father sped up to meet her too.

"Deet!" He grabbed her by the shoulders. "Oh thank Thra, we were about to start a search party." Mitjan wrinkled his nose as he noticed that his hands were wet, and he took a step back to survey her up and down. "What on Thra... Why are you sopping wet?"

"Oh, that..." She bit her lip. "I was just on a walk by the river, and the water looked so inviting and I just...I lost track of the time I suppose."

"You went swimming? With this chill in the air? Grot's sake, you're libel to catch cold! Whatever possessed you to do that?"

Thankfully, Maudra Argot saved her from having to explain herself. "Ah well, never mind why. She's safe and sound now, so it's all well. Now come on!" She yanked Deet by the wrist. "Don't think you can get out of a good scrubbing just because you ran off and had a dip in the river. You still need a proper bath, with soap."

Before Deet even had time to protest, she found herself sitting in a wooden washtub while Maudra Argot scrubbed nearly every inch of her green skin so hard, that Deet thought she'd end up as pink as one of the Stonewoods. Thankfully however, Maudra Argot stopped just short of scrubbing her raw. And after her mentor had pronounced her 'clean enough', she'd helped her dry off and and re-braid her hair. Deet then dressed herself in a grey formal gown, paired with a simple woven headband to show her status as a future maudra.

She'd finished getting ready without a moment to spare. She barely even had time to wrap her betrothed's wedding present before Maudra Argot, her father, and herself had to rush out to the Stonewood citadel, where the wedding rehearsal was taking place. Maudra Fara sat waiting for them in her council chamber, and an eye-patch wearing fizzgig sounded the alarm at their entrance. Maudra Fara shushed it and rose to her feet to greet them.

Deet's first impression of the Stonewood Maudra was that she looked intimidating. She was far more regal and queen-like than Maudra Argot with her floor length dress of forest greens and browns, and a fabric tiara emblazoned with hand-stitched beads. Her features were sharp and perceptive with a narrow nose and full lips, and her eyes possessed the piercing gaze of a hawk, though they softened at the sight of Maudra Argot.

"Fara!" Maudra Argot strode forwards and reached out to take the other Maudra by the hand. "It's been too long! The last time I saw you, were only a few trine younger than our Deethra. You couldn't even hold a spear properly! And now look at you..."

Maudra Fara closed her eyes and smiled. "It really has been too long Argot...And speaking of Deethra." Deet gulped as Maudra Fara peered over Maudra Argot's shoulders, and her piercing hawk's eyes landed on her. "You're even lovelier than Argot's description led me to believe... It's an honor to meet you. And of course, your father as well." She nodded towards Mitjan.

Deet blinked. "T-the honor is mine Maudra Fara..." She bowed her head and tried her best not to stutter.

"Well," said Maudra Fara beginning to walk towards one of the room’s great doors and gesturing for them to follow. "How are you enjoying the surface, Deethra? It's my understanding that this is your first time above ground."

"Oh...it's lovely!” Deet felt herself begin to perk a little up as she trailed behind Maudra Fara down a stone corridor. “It's funny, I never knew there was all this life up here on the surface! I mean... of course I knew that there were different plants and creatures that lived up here from what we have in Grot. But I guess I just never expected there to be so...so many of them! And it's all so lovely, especially the forest!"

Maudra Argot cackled. "She likes the forest a little too much if you ask me. She half-scared us to death earlier when she ran off by herself to have a dip in the river."

“Did you now?" Maudra Fara cocked a curious eyebrow at Deet. "In this weather?”

Deet lowered her ears. “I...well, yes. It was...refreshing.”

“Ah, here we are.” Deet breathed a sigh of relief as they rounded a corner and Maudra Fara pointed to a tall, hard-looking male gelfling in uniform, who'd just finished speaking to a pair of guards. “Deethra, it's my pleasure to introduce you to Captain Ordon, your betrothed's father.”

The captain squared his shoulders and faced Deet. He towered over her like a statue, with a stern and inscrutable face that looked as though it were carved from solid stone. And a pink, veiny scar ran down the right side of his face from eye to jaw, which he'd surely earned from his deeds in the war. Deet stared up at him with baited breath while he inspected her up and down, as though he were appraising a new recruit. But she could almost see a break in his armor as his dark eyes met hers, and he bowed his head. “Miss Deethra, it’s an honor.”

“T-thank you captain...”

“Ah, Ordon!” Maudra Argot stooped towards him with open arms. “Or _captain,_ I should say, Thra knows you've certainly earned that title after the battle. How many trine has it been now?”

The slightest of smirks flitted across the corners of the captain's mouth at the sight of Maudra Argot. “Far too many Maudra... you look well, and exactly the same as I remember you.”

“Hmm is that so? Because you for one have gotten old.”

"Maudra..." Deet cringed at her mentor's bluntness to her future father-in-law, but was relieved when Ordon took the jibe with an amused half-chuckle.

"You really haven't changed, have you?" said Ordon.

“Nope!" Maudra Argot banged her walking stick on the ground. "Now then, where’s that young stud of yours? Deethra's been dying to see him and I have to admit that I’m curious as well.”

" _Maudra._.." Deet bit her lip and longed to melt into the floor.

Ordon cocked an amused eyebrow. “Oh he’s around here somewhere, goofing off as usual I'm sure.”

“Well then let's go and get him! We can hardly rehearse a wedding without a groom now, can we?"

"Indeed no." said Maudra Fara with a chuckle as she began to lead them further down the corridor.

“Oh, by the way Ordon,” Maudra Argot turned to place a hand on the Captain's arm. “I was sorry to hear about what happened to your Shoni. Lovely creature that one, a real shame she can’t be here for her son’s wedding...”

The captain winced slightly, his eyes glazing over at the mention of his mate's name. “...thank you Maudra.”

“I’m...sure she’s with us in spirit.” said Deet, trying to be helpful.

The captain glanced over at Deet with an unreadable expression. “Yes, Indeed...” They lingered in silence a moment before Ordon cleared his throat and turned his attentions to Mitjin. "Ah forgive me, I've been rude. I don't believe we've met, have we? Did you serve in the war?"

Mitjin wilted back like a cave flower in the sunshine. "Well no, I...I elected to stay behind as part of the home guard...”

Ordon responded with an indistinct hum before glancing curiously at Deet. “Is there...something the matter miss Deethra?”

"Hmmm?" Deet blinked herself out of her thoughts and realized that she’d been staring at him. “Oh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to stare. It’s just...something about your face looks so familiar to me, I feel as if I’ve seen it somewhere before... but that can’t be can it? This is the first time we’ve met after all.”

“Perhaps you saw me on your way in? I did go out to speak with your warriors.”

Deet nodded to herself. “Yes, that’s... probably it.” Somehow however, she couldn’t shake the feeling that it wasn’t.

Presently, they rounded the corner of the corridor where yet another great oaken door sat pressed into the wall. A pair of guards stood watch in front of it, or at least they would’ve been standing watch, were they not engaged in conversation with boy gelfling, whose back faced Deet. The boy made an exaggerated gesture with one of his hands and both guards burst into peels of laughter which echoed off the walls of the corridor in response whatever it was he'd said.

Ordon sighed. “There he is.” The captain strode over towards the boy, and the guards quieted down at the sight of their superior. Ordon tapped the boy on the shoulder and whispered something in his ear before jerking his head in Deet’s direction. The boy jerked back in surprise before whipping his head around at Deet.

Deet understood why the captain's face looked so familiar to her now. The boy could very much be a younger, scarless version of his father save for his eyes, which were a hauntingly familiar crystal blue, and which shrank down to the size of a pinprick when they met hers. Deet felt her own eyes begin to bug in their sockets at the recognition of him.

_...oh dear_

Deet thought that the crawlies in her stomach were bad earlier, but they were like nothing compared to now, as she and her betrothed approached each other slowly. The boy looked a bit different now that he was wearing clothing, namely a formal tunic and trousers made in the Stonewood style. His hair was dry and freshly braided as well, parted in such a way that it covered the reddish mark on his temple, where a hastily-thrown stone had struck him there just hours ago.

"Ah, there you are Rian.“ said the voice of Maudra Fara. ”Deethra, it's my honor to introduce you to Rian, your intended. And Rian...Deethra."

Silence.

Neither gelfling said anything to each-other as they both stood rooted to the floor, their mouths hanging open like a pair of fish. Maudra Argot used to scold Deet when she was younger for gaping like this, telling her that bats were going to nest in her mouth if she kept it open so wide. But now, she couldn’t help her gobsmacked expression as the gears of her mind churned on overtime to process this discovery:

The boy she’d met at the river earlier, and the boy she was betrothed to, were the same boy...and she'd hit him in the head with a rock.

After what felt like an eternity it was the boy-Rian that was, who found his voice first. “It’s...nice meet you Deethra...for the first time.” His eyes darted down.

"Yes! The first time..." Deet cringed as she echoed his last words, perhaps a bit too hastily. An awkward silence followed before Deet felt Maudra Argot nudge her from behind with something, and she looked down to see the package she’d wrapped earlier in brown paper and string.

“Oh, that's right!” Deet took the package and handed it to Rian. “I have a gift for you.”

Rian's eyes widened as he took the gift from her and opened it, his hand brushing against hers as she handed it to him.

“It’s a traveling cloak,“ Deet said as he held it up in front of himself to inspect it. “I made it for you myself out of nurloc hide...”

“Huh, ‘nurloc hide’... So that’s what it is,” he muttered under his breath as he tried it on. “I-I mean, it’s lovely...thank you, Deethra.” Rian took the cloak off and handed it to his father, before his eyes rolled back in his head thoughtfully. “...I actually have a cloak that belongs to you as well, though I didn’t bring it here tonight.”

Deet felt her jaw drop again. That was right! She'd forgotten it at the river earlier. He still had it from where she’d given it to him to...to cover up with... Oh dear.

If anyone had noticed something odd about Rian's careful choice of words, they said nothing. And a moment later, a Stonewood gelfling scurried up to Maudra Fara and whispered something in her ear.

"Well," Maudra Fara cleared her throat. "It seems that there are a few more things that need to be put in place before we’re ready to begin, but In the meantime...” She passed her eyes between Deet and Rian. "Shall we give our young couple some time alone? I'm sure they'd appreciate the chance to become better acquainted in private." She gestured for the guards to open the door, and they did so obediently.

Rian took the hint, and marched in to the room diligently. Deet followed more slowly, casting one last glance over her shoulder as she crossed the threshold. Her father looked down at the floor while Maudra Argot gave Deet a little nod of encouragement before the door shut behind her, leaving her alone with her betrothed for the first time...since this afternoon that was.

They lingered in another awkward silence before Deet finally found her voice. “Why didn’t you tell me who your were earlier?”

“...Me?" Rian took a step back. "I didn’t get a chance to, not after you ran off like that... And at least I didn’t lie about who I was.”

“What?”

“You said you were here as a healer looking after the warriors.”

“That wasn’t a lie! I _am_ a healer, and of course I’m going to look after the warriors while they’re here...” Deet picked at the fabric of her dress sleeves. “And besides, you were the one who brought up the wedding in the first place. Why didn’t you mention that your were the groom?”

“To be fair, I was a bit addled.” He pointed at his temple.

She sputtered at that. “Yes well, I fixed that with the guano balm didn’t I?" And I never would’ve hit you in the first place if you hadn’t attacked me, and in the _nude_ no less!” She crossed her arms at him. 

“Like I said, I didn't know that anyone else was out there, I thought you were an Arathim. Do you honestly think I would’ve attacked an innocent girl on purpose? Much less stripped naked in front of one? Wait...” Rian wrinkled his nose as another thought occurred to him. “Did you say ‘guano’?”

Deet rolled her eyes. “Never mind what the balm is made of. And honestly, I don’t know what you would or wouldn’t do, because I don’t know you at all!” Deet felt her body begin to freeze again as the impact of her last words hit her with the force of a thousand-pound boulder. "I...I don't know you at all...and I’m marrying you...” She gulped as she locked eyes with him again, his looking just as spooked as she imagined hers did. Of course she’d known for weeks that she was marrying a stranger, but somehow it had never felt more real until this moment.

This time it was Rian that broke the tension between them, by beginning to snicker softly to himself.

“...What?” Deet asked. "What's funny?"

He gestured between them. "This is." he said through laughter.

She scoffed and turned her back on him. "It is not funny, it’s humiliating!"

“Oh come on, you have to admit that it’s a little funny. Now when gelfling ask us about the first time we met, we’ll have to tell them about how I nearly clobbered you with a tree branch, and you responded by braining me upside the skull with a rock.”

Deet spun back around to face him. “Please don’t ever tell anyone! It’s bad enough that it happened between us, but if other gelfling knew...”

“Don’t worry." He raised his hands up in a gesture of reassurance. "Mum's the word, I don't want word getting out about this any more than you do... But honestly, I’m glad it happened.”

She cocked her head at him. “What do you mean? You’re glad that I hit you in the head?”

“Well no, I could’ve done without that bit, obviously." He raised up a hand to scratch the back of his neck. "...I guess what I'm saying is, I’m glad that it’s-”

Rian was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door, and a Stonewood gelfling popped in a head as it cracked open.

“Rian, Miss Deethra, we’re ready to begin when you are.” The gelfling beckoned a hand as a gesture to follow.

Rian made a disappointed huff and straightened his back, before putting one foot in front of the other to do as they were told. Deet trailed along beside him, eyeing him from the corner of her eyes and puzzling over what it was he was about to say before he’d been cut off.

As the gelfling led them away, Rian glanced down at Deet with a hint of mischief, and leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Look on the bright side, you’ve already seen me naked, so at least that bit’s out of the way.”

Deet nearly choked on her own tongue.

The gelfing brought she and Rian to another cavernous room where they regrouped with both of their fathers, the maudras, and a handful of other Stonewood gelfing, who were introduced to Deet as wedding planners. Once everyone was brought up to speed, they then proceeded to begin with the main goal of the evening: the actual rehearsal.

Though the ceremony tomorrow was taking place outdoors, it was still important to practice all the steps of the wedding and make sure that everyone involved knew what they were supposed to do: when to start walking, and how fast, where to stand once they got there, what to say and how to say it, and practice a few other minor traditions here and there. Each of the gelfling clans had it’s own distinct set of traditions and rituals for weddings, and naturally the Stonewood clan was no exception. And though most of the rehearsal went smooth enough, there was one final little ritual that was giving them trouble.

Deet had forgotten what they told her it was called, but she and Rian were each supposed to pour a goblet of alcohol, then hold it out as an offering to their mate while they each took a sip simultaneously. It seemed simple enough to do when the planners explained it, but drinking out of a glass that someone else was holding in their hand was proving to be a lot more difficult than it looked, much less having to hold a glass steady for someone else at the same time.

Deet felt like her little brother when he was learning how to drink out of a cup, as the water they used to practice with dribbled down her chin and seeped into the collar of her dress. And Rian wasn't faring much better than she, while he struggled to take a sip from the goblet in her hand without looking like a landstrider at a watertrough.

“Ah, miss Deethra, hold yours up just a little higher.” One of the planners directed her, and she complied. “No, no. Not that high-you’ll choke Rian. And Rian, do try not to hunch over so much. Remember, this needs to look good for the crowd...”

Deet felt the anxiety welling back up inside of her at the thought of having to do this in front of a crowd, and all the judging Stonewood eyes. But there was no helping it, apparently this was one of the more important rituals in a Stonewood wedding, and they had to get it right. She was told that it represented the pair bond, and how the couple shared their souls with one-another when it was consummated on a gelfling wedding night.

Forging the bond, or so she'd been told, was a lot like dreamfasting, though far more intense. Instead of sharing mere memories, the couple shared their very essence with each-other, establishing a permanent connection between the two. You quite literally gave your partner a piece of your soul, and kept one in return, and it would remain a part of you forever-even if your mate should return to Thra before you. Perhaps, Deet wondered, that was why so few gelfling ever remarried after losing a partner. It was also said to be the most intimate experience that a gelfling could ever share with another, especially since it had to be forged during a moment of, well... a _different_ sort of intimacy...

Deet glanced up at Rian and felt her face heat up at the thought of that... She’d never even so much as kissed a boy before, let alone done more than that. She simply didn’t have the time! She’d been too busy learning how to be a maudra to worry about silly things like snogging boys. And it wasn’t as if any of the boys in Grot had ever paid her any mind either...But, whether Deet had any experience with this sort of thing or not, she had to go through with it. It was the most important part of the whole wedding after all; it was what made the union truly official, everything else was just ceremony and paperwork.

Still though, Deet didn't exactly look forward to sharing her essence with an almost total stranger. And...she felt herself shiver, what if Rian decided that he didn't like her soul once he had a piece of it? He couldn't exactly give it back once it was done. Though he'd been one of the few Stonewood gelfling to actually show her kindness, what if his blue eyes should turn hard on her too in that moment, when he saw her in a more intimate light than any other gelfling had before?

Deet was snapped out of her thoughts as Rian made a sharp, gagging sound. She realized then that in her nervous ruminating, she'd stopped paying attention to what she was doing and leaned her cup too far back, and Rian was choking as water was forced down his windpipe. He instinctively reeled back for air and dropped his goblet in the process, sending it clattering to floor and spilling it's contents all over her dress, leaving her soaking wet in front of him for the second time that day.

“Oh, I-I’m so sorry...here.” Rian lurched forwards to try and help her dry herself off, bringing his hands up to pat at her dress skirt.

Deet panicked when she felt his hands land on her body, and she reeled back from his touch as though his hands were dipped in poison "N-no, don't touch me!" She shoved him away from her, but far more brusquely than she intended in her frenzied state. And he slipped on the water that was puddled on the floor, sending his feet flying out from under him as he landed flat on his bum. The sound of his body colliding with the hard, stone floor echoed throughout the room, which grew eerily silent immediately after.

Deet brought her hands up to her mouth as the room froze in place around her. She didn't mean to push him down! She was just so nervous at the thought of having to pair-bond with him, that when his hands landed on her out of the blue... she panicked. _Again._ Really, what was it about this boy that had compelled her to strike him twice today?

Deet held her breath as she waited for Rian’s reaction. Would he yell at her? Berate her? Get up and try to shove her back? What would her father do if he did that? But, no. Rian didn’t yell, and he didn’t attempt to retaliate either. He simply stared up at her from the floor, his blue eyes bewildered and confused before he cast them down and rose to his feet, his olive skin starting to flush sheepishly.

The room lingered in tense silence a moment or two longer before Maudra Fara cleared her throat. “Why don’t we...take a little break to get Deethra and Rian get dried off, and then we’ll re-group try again.”

They did as they were told, and Rian walked over to his father as Maudra Argot and Mitjin approached Deet from behind and started to lead her out of the room. Deet bit back the flood of tears threatening to spill out as she felt the eyes on her again, and heard the planners and the guards whispering among themselves... She just couldn’t do anything right today, could she?

Once they were back in the corridor, Her father approached her from behind and brought a tentative hand up to rest on her shoulder. “Glow worm...”

Deet bucked him off. As much as she wanted to accept her father's comfort, she knew that if she did, she’d end up curling into a ball on his chest and sobbing like a little childling. And she couldn't afford to break down right now... she had to be strong.

“It’ll be all right, childling...” Maudra Argot laid gentle hands on her arms and rubbed them in soothing motions. “Here, let’s see if we can't find you a towel...”

Deet nodded with a tightly clenched mouth, though not exactly certain that it would be all right. One thing was for certain though, by this time tomorrow night, she’d be pair bonded to Rian whether she wanted to be or not. It was too late to back out now, and she didn’t have a choice anymore...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Next chapter: the wedding and... [the wedding night.](https://youtu.be/cphNpqKpKc4)
> 
> Unfortunately however, I’m not sure if I’ll get that chapter up before the next decade (no seriously, it might go up the first Saturday of the new year, since this week is Christmas week, and I celebrate that so I don’t have as much spare time to write.)
> 
> But, I’ll see what I can do, and try to get it up ASAP. Happy holidays to everyone who celebrates and a happy new year as well, if I don’t post until then. :)


	5. A Ceremony and a Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's heeeere, the wedding! And at just over 6k, it’s the longest update yet.
> 
> This is either a few days late, or a few days early depending on how you look at it. I tried to get this to you guys by Saturday, I _really_ did try, but I couldn't quite make it in time. And I can't bring myself to make you guys wait until the weekend either, So here's a little New Year's gift for you guys! 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who wished me a Merry Christmas, and no spoilers, but just another quick reminder that the minor dub-con tag is on this story so...yeah.
> 
> Onwards to the moment we’ve all been waiting for!

Rian stifled a grunt of discomfort as his father’s clumsy hands yanked another strand of his hair to plait in with the rest of his braids. Rian couldn’t even remember the last time his father had braided his hair, and Ordon was severely out of practice it seemed. Rian had been braiding his hair for himself ever since he was old enough to, and before that it was usually his mother that did it. It was actually supposed to be his mother that was braiding his hair now...

It was Stonewood tradition for a groom's mother to braid her son’s hair on his wedding day, symbolizing that he was no longer a childling, because it would be his mate who braided his hair from then on. But since Rian’s mother had already braided his hair for the last time trine ago, his father had to fill the role.

After what felt like ages, Ordon's rough hands finally released Rian's hair and took a step back to survey his work. "I think that's all right, I never have been good at fancy stuff though... here," Ordon picked up a handheld mirror off the dresser. "Did you want to see?"

"I'm sure it's fine." Rian rose to his feet from the wooden stool he’d been seated on and ran a hand over his throbbing scalp. Truthfully, he didn't care if it looked like a live bird had made a nest in it, he wasn't about to ask his father to repeat that process.

"I...suppose you're done then." Ordon inspected him up and down. "...You look nice. "

"I look like a gruenak in silk stockings." Rian tugged on his noose-like collar that chaffed at his Adams-apple.

He felt completely ridiculous in this outfit: a high-collared, white doublet with matching trousers, paired with a belt that bore the sigil of his clan on the buckle, and boots polished so brightly that he could see himself in them. The stitching of his clothing was emblazoned with hand-stitched beads of Stonewood reds-and browns, and they weighed him down like armor, but without the security or mobility. The doublet was tailored so tightly that he couldn't even lift his arms all the way, and he feared that a particularly heavy sigh from himself might send the buttons flying off like a bola.

"You look like a proper prince." His father jerked his head up emphatically. "Deethra should be pleased."

"Deethra would sooner have that gruenak as a groom than me, I think you saw that as well as anyone last night..."

His father exhaled and cast his eyes to the floor. "She's just nervous is all. She'll come around, I'm sure...The pair-bonding will help take care of that, you can’t help but grow fonder of your mate once that’s done."

Rian felt himself cringe at the thought of discussing such things with his father, and he responded with only an indistinct hum as he cast his eyes down too. "Well...we should get going then, I suppose." Rian began to make for the door.

"...Rian?"

Rian turned to face his father, who stood rooted to the floor. Ordon’s jaw clenched and un-clenched several times along with his fist before he finally found his voice. "I-I know that this engagement hasn't exactly been easy on you, and I know it doesn't help that I've always been hard on you too-more than I should be, probably but..." Ordon swallowed hard, his eyes still not meeting Rian’s. "I just want you to know that...you're handling this well, better than I ever could, if I'm truthful. And I...I want you to know that I'm...well, that I’m-"

"Father you don't have to say it, I know..."

His father’s dark eyes snapped up at him, cool relief melting away the stony quality of his features as he began to nod slowly. “Good...good, I’m glad...”

Ordon swallowed again before tentatively stepping forwards to close the gap between the two of them, enveloping Rian in a stiff hug. Rian tensed in surprise, he couldn't remember the last time his father had hugged him either, but...he had to admit, this was nice. Rian allowed himself to slump forwards and rest his head in the crook of his father's shoulder, closing his eyes as Ordon began to pat his back awkwardly, yet affectionately.

Rian had no idea how long the two of them stayed like that before he finally broke off the hug to stand back from his father. Ordon brought a calloused hand up to cup his son’s face before squinting and turning Rian's head to the side. "How did you get this bump?" He ran his thumb over Rian's temple. "I thought you weren't doing drills this week."

Rian stifled a snort. "Oh that...bit of a long story there, ask me about it later."

His father cocked an eyebrow, but made no attempt to press him further as his face re-donned it’s usual emotional armor. “All right then, let’s head out.”

* * *

The autumnal air was clear and crisp, and the cloudless afternoon sky allowed the three brothers full view of Stone-in-the-Wood, which was bursting at it's seems with gelfling who'd traveled far and wide from all across Stonewood territory for the wedding. If someone had told Rian that the whole clan was here, he would've believed them. Rian could scarcely take two steps in the thick of the crowd without being stopped and being given congratulations by someone, or thinly-veiled condolences disguised as congratulations.

Public opinion of his wedding, Rian knew, varied greatly. There were those who were outraged on his behalf that Maudra Fara would ever dare force him to mix with 'a dirty Grottan', and those who felt that ‘a dirty Grottan’ was exactly what he deserved. There were also those felt a sense of gratitude and respect towards him because of what he was doing for the clan, and those who didn’t care at all, they simply wanted an excuse to celebrate and party. That was the group Rian probably would’ve fallen in himself were he not the groom.

But regardless of how his fellow clansmen felt about his wedding, they were all curious to see it. And Rian supposed that he couldn't blame them for that. It wasn’t every day that the clans made an alliance like this, and the fact that this was just as much a union between two clans as it was a union between two gelflings made it all the more of a public spectacle. And of course, Rian was sure that free food and drinks at the reception for the public didn't hurt attendance numbers either.

Eventually, Rian and his father were able to weave their way through the throng of gelfling and make their way to the village square, where tables were already being set up for later, and paper lanterns with symbols of both Stonewood and Grottan origin were being hung in the towering trees. Rian recognized some of the Stonewood ones which included unity, prosperity, fertility, loyalty...the one for ‘love’ was absent however.

While Rian was assaulted by yet another set of well-wishers, he noticed that his father was approached by a pair of guards. And when he and his father both managed to get away, Ordon leaned in close to speak in Rian's ear. “I’ve got to handle this, I'll be right back... Don't run off."

"Where would I go?" Rian muttered under his breath as his father disappeared in the crowd.

While he waited for his father to return, Rian decided to make his way over the ale fountain to pass the time. As expected, the old tree with ale flowing down its branches was packed to the gills, but Rian fortunately managed to find a quiet seat to tuck away from the crowd in. And he filled up one of the wooden mugs they had sitting out with the sweet, amber liquid, careful not to spill any on his clothing.

As pleasant as it would’ve been to get drunk and forget about everything for a while, the ale they kept in the fountain wasn’t anywhere near strong enough for that. Even childlings could drink it without issue. Rian should know, he'd snuck enough sips out of it himself when he was young, and the only consequence he’d ever faced was having his hide tanned the one time he’d been caught.

He’d been told that the local brewery would be providing something harder for the banquet tonight, but even then Rian knew that he probably shouldn't; he would need to have all his wits about him in order to consummate the pair-bond with Deethra tonight...

Rian felt beads of sweat beginning to form on his skin beneath the actual beads of his clothing. He had no doubt that his body would be perfectly content to perform its duty tonight, especially after weeks without any physical contact with a pretty girl.

He’d gotten a bit of a glimpse of Deethra’s body at the river yesterday, and truthfully he wouldn’t have minded getting to see more of it...if he knew that she wanted him to. _That_ was what jammed the wheels. Rian had never before done anything with a girl that he wasn’t sure she wanted just as much as himself, and he had no desire to start now.

...But it hardly mattered what either of them wanted at this point. They both knew exactly what they were signing up for when they agreed to this marriage, and everything that pair-bonding entailed. It was too late to back out now, and they had to do what they had to do. And that, Rian supposed, was that.

Rian downed what was left in his cup and hastily re-filled it. He swirled the mug between his hands in tight little circles as he tried to think of something else.

As he nursed his drink, Rian noticed a group of Grottans seated together a-ways across from him at the fountain. They were sniffing cautiously at the mugs of ale in their hands when one of them spotted Rian and nudged the gelfling sitting next to him, jerking his head in Rian's direction. Soon enough, the whole group of Grottans was staring at him. Rian tried to pretend that he didn’t notice as they whispered in each-other's green ears and cast suspicious glances his way with their dark eyes.

One of them in particular caught Rian's eye due to the unusual way he wore his hair-even for a Grottan. It was shaved down close to his head on either side, leaving a single tuft of unbraided, blonde hair tumbling down his shoulders and upper back like a curtain of snow on a mountainside.

The look he had for Rian in his onyx eyes was particularly hard as well, like he wished he could bore a hole straight into Rian’s skull with his gaze. But when the Grottan boy noticed that he'd been spotted by Rian, he hastily tugged the hood of his royal blue cloak up over his head as he and his friends suddenly gained a much greater interest in their drinks.

Rian hummed to himself as he turned his attentions back to his own drink then, and took another sip.

"Well I might've known I'd find you here," said a hearty, male voice from directly behind Rian. "Barely past mid-day, and you're already hittin' the sauce..."

Rian felt his spirits perk up along with his ears at the recognition of that voice. "Gurjin!" Rian spun around in his seat just in time to be attacked by a violent a bear-hug from his Drenchen friend, which Rian returned full-force.

"It's good to see you Gurjin," said Rian as he scooted over to allow Gurjin to squeeze in next to him. "Am I ever glad you're here!"

Rian had been saying some variation of those words to other gelfling all day, but this was the first time he'd actually meant them. Because although Gurjin was technically here as an envoy from Sog, Rian knew that Gurjin was perhaps the only guest at his wedding today that attended not as a diplomat or a gawker, but as a friend. And Gurjin was a friend that Rian didn't get to see anywhere near often enough for his liking.

Rian had first met Gurjin friend several trine ago, when Maudra Fara had brought him along on a diplomatic errand to see Gurjin's mother, the Drenchen Maudra Laesid in the Great Smerth. The two of them had hit it off right away, not just because they both served as guard's in their respective Maudra's services, but also because they shared a sense of humor. And Gurjin's jovial, laid-back spirit was easy to get along with, and exactly the sort of calming presence Rian craved today.

"It's good to see you too mate!" said Gurjin as he plopped down next to Rian. "You clean up nice, but you look green. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were the Grottan one and not the girl! Oh say, where is she? I’ve never laid eyes on a Grottan before."

"Still getting ready I imagine, takes girls a bit longer for that sort of thing, you know."

"Mate," Gurjin's expression turned suddenly serious as he put a hand on Rian's shoulder. "I have three sisters. I think I know that better than anyone except maybe our father."

Rian chuckled. "Fair enough."

"Tell me about her though," said Gurjin as he grabbed a mug to fill up for himself. "You've met her already, haven't you?"

"Yeah, just yesterday...Not much of a courtship is it?"

“No, it’s not.” Gurjin took a sip of his ale. “What’s she look like though? Is it true what they say about their looks, or is she pretty?”

“No, she's uh...not bad.” Rian felt his face begin to heat up. "Really not bad at all..."

"Well that's good at least, makes it easier for you when you go spelunking tonight."

"...'spelunking'?"

"It's when you explore a cave." Gurjin wiped at his mouth and broke into an impish grin. “Y'know, like a Grottan cave..."

Rian groaned and rubbed his eyes with his palms. "Gurjin, don't do that. Not today..."

"Aw come on, I came up with a million of them on the way up here from Sog. Do you have any idea how much material you can get out of 'Stonewood'? It practically writes itself!"

"Gurjin, I mean it," Rian snapped like a tortle. " _Stop_."

"O-ok, I'm sorry." Gurjin put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I was just trying to lighten the mood is all, I won't do it again..."

Rian sighed and darted his eyes down. "I'm sorry. Suppose I'm just a little tense about that subject is all..."

"...You want to talk about it?"

"I don't know if I should..."

"Course you should!” Gurjin gave him a shove. “If it bothers you, then you should talk about it. And you know you can tell your old pal Gurjin anything!”

“Well...” Rian bit the inside of his mouth and considered it. It would be nice to vent to someone...

“...Well?” Gurjin lowered his tone and leaned in a little closer to Rian.

“...I happen to have it on good authority that Deethra doesn't want my 'Stonewood' anywhere near her, or any other part of me for that matter."

"Who’s authority is that?"

Rian shifted in his seat and ran a hand over his sore backside. “Let’s just say, I have a firsthand source.”

"But what is it that you want?"

"...what do you mean?”

“I mean just what I asked.” Gurjin set his mug down and locked eyes with him. “What do you want, Rian?”

Rian blinked. Come to think of it, that was perhaps the first time anyone had asked him what he wanted, what he really truly wanted, since he’d agreed to this marriage. Rian fixated on the mug of ale in his hands, starring down at his reflection as it shimmered and danced in the amber liquid while he considered it... what did he want?

"I want...” Rian licked his lips. “I want all of this to go away, the Arathim, the alliance, the wedding: all of it. I want everything to go back to the way it was; when getting married was a problem for another day, and all I had to worry about was who’s windowsill I was going to swipe a treat off of. And what I _really_ want is..."

Rian swallowed hard, his collar squeezing his neck like a lock-snake.

_What I really want, is Mira..._

Rian took as deep of a breath as his doublet would allow. “I don’t want to get married Gurjin, and I don’t want to pair-bond with a girl that doesn’t want me...But I don’t want my clan to be slaughtered either, so this is what I have to do.” Rian finished what was left in his ale cup and turned it over.

Gurjin chuckled and clapped him on the back. “Now we’re getting somewhere... Y’know Rian, why don’t you just ask Maudra Fara if you can put all this off? Postpone it until you can get all your thoughts sorted out?”

Rian scoffed. “Do you see all _this_ Gurjin?” Rian gestured to the throng of gelflings in the village. “And besides, technically Deethra and I are legally married right now...”

Gurjin choked on a swig of his drink. “What?”

“They had us sign all the paperwork and everything last night. Suppose they were scared one of us might get cold feet today.” Not an entirely irrational fear, as it turned out.

“...So what?” Gurjin shrugged. “It’s just words on paper, and you can take of that easy enough with a spark.”

“You’re suggesting I burn my marriage license?”

“I’m not suggesting anything.” Gurjin took a long swig of his drink. “All I’m saying is that none of it really matters until you do the deed...“ Gurjin finished his ale and turned the cup over beside Rian’s. “...and that you should be the one to make your own choices. That’s all.”

Rian furrowed his brow as he stared at their empty cups sitting side-by-side in front of him. _His own choices..._

“Rian.”

Rian jolted in place as he and Gurjin both turned around to face Rian’s father.

“...It’s time.”

* * *

Rian wasn’t sure what was making him sweat more, the fact that he was sweltering unshielded in the full-force of the afternoon suns, or the fact that the eyes of every gelfling in the village, and then-some were fixated on him and his every move as they all awaited the appearance of his bride. But regardless, he just hoped that he didn’t have any stains under his arms.

Rian stood on the top of the hill which overlooked the village and housed the actual ‘Stones-in-the-Wood’, for which the Stonewood capital was named. They were a series of great and ancient boulders as old as the Stonewood clan itself, dream-etched with glowing runes that kept their stories and history. 

There was no more sacred place in all Stone-in-the-Wood, and the fact that it was situated on a hill meant that a great many gelfing could gather at the bottom and have full view of the proceedings, making it the perfect location for a wedding. A great wooden arch had been set up in front of the stones, and heavy fabric of both Stonewood and Grottan colors streamed down it’s sides, fluttering loosely in the breeze.

Suddenly, Rian’s ears were perked as he heard a clamor in the crowd below, and he craned his head to try and see through the the wave of bodies and the copse of trees at the bottom of the hill. Rian couldn’t help but let his jaw drop when she came into view. He thought that Deethra looked nice before, but now...

Now even the most critical of gelflings would have to admit that she looked nothing short of stunning in her gossamer gown of white, silver, and just a hint of blue. The symbol of the Grottan clan was embroidered on the bodice of her dress in silver thread, and the low back fully exposed her crystalline wings, which draped down over the train of her skirt.

Her powdery blonde hair was braided half-up half-down. And deep, blue flowers which Rian didn’t recognize were perched in a crown-like ring on her forehead, matching the bouquet that she held in one hand. The other hand was interlaced in her father’s arm. Mitjin had a wild and panicked look in his eyes as he walked her up the hill, like all his daughter had to do was say the word and he'd bolt her away into the safety of the woods.

But Deethra didn't say the word. She kept her back straight and her head up high, but her eyes down, and she kept them that way as she took her place at the wedding arch with Rian.

Deethra didn’t meet Rian’s eyes for almost the whole of the ceremony, not when they exchanged their vows, or slipped their rings onto each-other’s fingers: his was a plain, silver band with symbols of Grottan origin etched in the metal. Hers had a band of gold, the metal of which was worked to resemble the winding branches of a tree, and had a bright, red stone the color of an autumn leaf set in it's center. Rian would have to remind himself to tell her what was special about that ring later...

It was only when it came down to the wine ceremony at the end—the one which had given them so much trouble last night that Deethra finally returned his gaze. After their little mishap last night, the planners had made the two of them go at it for another hour until they finally got it right. And they found that the secret to doing it properly was that they had to look each-other in the eyes.

Rian could see Maudra Fara, who was conducting the ceremony, hold her breath as he and Deethra each poured out a glass of alcohol—his was the traditional Stonewood-made wine, while hers was something that they’d brought from Grot. Rian brought his goblet up slowly to Deethra’s mouth while she mirrored his movements and did the same for him. Rian sought out her dark eyes to lock with his blue ones as his lips touched the rim of the glass in her hand.

Though Deethra’s deep, brown iris took up most of her eyes, what little whites Rian could see in them looked bloodshot, as though she hadn’t slept a wink. She stared up at him like an animal with its neck on a chopping block as she began to tip the goblet back and pour a sip down Rian's throat: terrified, but completely resigned to her fate.

Whatever this Grottan alcohol that she was pouring gently into his mouth was, it had a rich, blue color with a consistency almost like syrup, coating Rian's throat as it went down. It wasn't bad though, it had a sweet, earthy taste that lingered in his mouth even after Deethra pulled the goblet away.

Rian saw Maudra Fara breathe a little sight of relief as he and Deethra set their glasses aside, likely saying a silent prayer of gratitude that they'd actually pulled it off without either of them soaking wet or on the ground.

"Gelflings of the Stonewood and Grottan clans!” Maudra Fara addressed the crowd, her voice carrying out clear and strong as it reverberated off the trees. “We have witnessed this day Rian and Deethra’s promise of fidelity, and as they pledge their souls to one-another, they unite not only themselves...but also our two clans." She clasped her hands together. "Now, by my powers as Stonewood Maudra, and by the laws of both of our clans, I do pronounce this couple mates before Thra...and they seal their union with a kiss."

Oh right, that.

Rian saw Deethra stand up a little straighter as they both fidgeted in place for longer than what was probably appropriate, before Rian finally leaned forwards and put a chaste peck on her lips.

Deethra’s green ears turned beet red as she and Rian awkwardly linked arms and began their descent of the hill. And Rian huffed as he felt his own ears begin to heat up as well. Why did he feel so embarrassed? It was just a bloody kiss! They’d better get used to the close contact, they were going to have to do a lot more than that in an hour or two... _unless_...

Rian cast a glance back up over his shoulder at Maudra Fara and thought back to Gurjin’s words.

_His own choices..._

* * *

Although the food at the banquet was delicious and there was plenty of it, Rian barely ate, finding he didn’t have much of an appetite. Deethra, he noticed, ate nothing at all. She merely swirled her food around on her plate and occasionally sipped at her drink, which was more of that syrupy blue alcohol from earlier.

The party that was happening outside in the village sounded like a great deal more fun than the banquet in the citadel’s formal dining hall. Rian could hear the sounds of music and laughter even through the thick, stone walls of the building, as the village gladly stole this excuse to celebrate and have a good time. Inside however, all the laughter was forced, and the conversations were hushed as both Stonewood and Grottan attendees shifted uncomfortably next to one-another, here only because they had to be.

It wasn't just Stonewoods and Grottans here however, like Gurjin from the Drenchens, the other clans had sent guests and representatives to attend the wedding and show their support. Military support would've been a lot nicer, Rian thought, but sure! More gelfling to force awkward small talk with was fine too.

The Vapran emissary was particularly of note, in that she was one of the All Maudra's "Stuffy little Brats" as Mira had called them once, specifically the youngest one. To Rian's surprise, he found that not only was she neither stuffy nor a brat, but that she was also the only guest here tonight he'd actually enjoyed talking to-besides Gurjin of course.

No one was talking to him and Deethra now however, as they were seated at a small table by themselves at the front of the room. And they didn't even speak to each-other. Rian glanced up from his plate and allowed his eyes to scan around the room as the banquet came to a lull. And he met his father’s eyes, from where he was seated at a table with both of the Maudra's and Deethra's father.

Ordon passed his eyes between Rian and Deethra, then to the door, then back at Rian again. And Rian knew his father well enough to understand what that meant: "Go now, get it done."

Rian swallowed hard and felt himself begin to sweat again, before pushing his half-finished plate back on the table and standing slowly to his feet. Deethra whipped her head around at him as he stood, brown flashing eyes wide for a split second before regaining her composure. She took a deep, steadying breath and quickly downed what was left of her drink before she stood as well. And they walked towards the door together.

As Deethra's father noticed them leaving, his spine snapped as straight as a yardstick, and he cast a strained look at his daughter. Deethra gave him a wave and a little smile of reassurance as she disappeared behind the door with Rian, but that smile faded from her face as she and Rian walked down the stone corridor side by side, towards the room that had been set aside for them for this special purpose.

It was quite a nice room, Rian thought, and they'd definitely gone out of their way to try and make the two of them comfortable. The plush, four-poster bed had autumn leaves strewn across the duvet like flower petals, and flickering candles cast a soft glow over the room, smelling of honey and cinnamon. Sitting atop a dresser, there was a bottle of Stonewood-made wine along with a pair of glasses...and a bottle of oil.

Deethra approached the edge of the bed as Rian shut the door behind them. She kept her back to him as she tentatively began to tug her dress down her shoulders. But she stopped partway and hesitated, speaking to Rian for the first time since the two of them had exchanged vows in the afternoon.

"Shall I undress myself...or did you want to do it?" Though Deethra's voice was steady, Rian noticed that her exposed wings were trembling.

"...Why don't you keep your dress on for now, and let's just talk."

"If it's all the same to you, I would rather just get this over with."

"See, that's just it." Rian took a step towards her. "I've been thinking...why do we have to get this over with tonight?"

Deethra looked over her shoulder at him, her brows knitted together in confusion. "What are you talking about? It’s our wedding night, we have to finalize the marriage...we have to form the pair-bond."

"Of course we do...but hear me out: if you're anything like me, and I think you are, then you only said yes to any of this because getting married to a total stranger was only slightly more appealing than having your whole clan annihilated by arathim."

Deethra bit her lip and flinched. "Well...yes, that's true. But, I did say yes and so did you, and now we have to do what we have to do."

"And we will..." Rian raised up a hand as he took another step towards her. "But who says we have to do it tonight?"

_In fact_ , Rian silently added, _Who says we have to do it at all?_

He'd been dwelling on Gurjin's words all afternoon and evening, but it was only when he thought back to Maudra Fara's words on the day he'd agreed to the arrangement that an idea began to form itself in his mind. She had told him that day that his loyalty to the clan wouldn't go unrewarded, and she would give him whatever he wanted for agreeing to the marriage, _"...Whatever you ask of me, anything I have in my power to give: it's yours..."_ those had been her exact words... Well, wasn't annulling a marriage that had never been properly consummated with a pair-bond the exact the sort of thing in a Maudra's power?

It seemed so painfully obvious now, that Rian wondered why had never thought of this before today. He'd heard of rare instances among other gelfling before, where a wedding ceremony had been performed but a permanent pair-bond had never been properly forged between the couple, which was the only way possible for a gelfling marriage to be annulled. It didn't happen often, but it did happen, and it was definitely possible...

After the arathim were defeated, and the purpose of the alliance between the clans had been fulfilled, Rian could dreamfast with Maudra Fara and show her that he'd never properly formed the bond with Deethra. And then Deethra could go back to her caves, back to her fathers and her nurlocs (whatever those were, anyways) And Rian... Rian could go back and try to find Mira. And for the first time in his life, he'd be free: truly free, without a betrothal hanging over his head like he'd almost always known. And then...then he could be with Mira the way he'd always wanted to be but never could; body and soul, forever belonging to each-other.

_That,_ was what Rian wanted.

Deethra blinked. "W-what? I don't understand...you _don't_ want to do the pair-bond tonight?"

"Think about it," Rian began to circle around her. "No one would be any the wiser if we didn't do it tonight. We could take things at our own pace, actually get to know each-other before diving head-first into mating for life...”

Although Rian no longer had any intention of mating for life with her at all, he got the feeling that Deethra would reject such a radical idea if he led in with that tonight. No, Rian decided that he needed to play his cards close to his chest here, and come at her from a different angle. He could introduce the idea of an annulment to her later...

“Get to know each-other first...” Deethra fidgeted with her hands as she echoed his words. “That-that does sound nice...but what if someone finds out? If it ever got out that we didn’t actually go through and finalize the marraige, it could ruin the alliance! And then what would happen to-”

“How are they going to find out unless one of us rats?” Rian cut her off. “It’s not like anyone’s going to force us to dreamfast our wedding night, they’ll take our word for it.”

The bond didn’t leave behind any physical marks, and the link between souls it forged was only felt by the couple. They were supposed to sign something the next day which verified that they’d done it, but like Gurjin said, those were just words on paper, and easy enough to take care of...

Deethra bit her lip. “I-I just don’t know, It’s risky...”

“Well, it’s either that...or the alternative.” Rian glanced over towards the bed before squaring his shoulders and locking eyes with her. “What do you want, Deethra?”

She tensed up at his question, squirming in place for a moment before casting her eyes down at her hands, fidgeting with the newly-placed ring on her green finger. This was probably the first time she'd ever been given a real choice since this whole affair had started, just like himself when Gurjin had pointed him towards this direction. “I..." she said after a moment. "...I don’t want to pair bond with you, not tonight anyways...”

Rian nodded slowly. “All right then. So we're agreed: no pair-bonding tonight... That’s that.” Thank Thra.

A little look of relief washed over Deethra’s face before she tensed again, and flashed her eyes nervously at the bed. “...what about the sheets?”

“What about them?”

“Well, it uh...it tends to leave a bit of a mess behind, doesn’t it?” Her pulled back ears were flushing red again. “If whoever does the laundry sees that the sheets are clean, they’ll know we didn’t do anything...”

“It would probably be dry by then...” Rian knew that from experience, though Deethra didn’t seem at all reassured. “But if you’re really all that worried about it...”

He grabbed the bottle of wine off the dresser and uncorked it. Pulling back the bedspread, Rian splashed out half the bottle over the bed-sheets, leaving a bright red stain spattered across the middle.

“W-what are you-” Deethra lurched forwards to stop him, but her eyes widened in understanding when she realized what he was doing.

“There,” Rian took a step back from the bed to survey his work. “Now no one will be any the wiser, since I got a little over-excited and spilled wine all over the bed...” He glanced at her from the corners of his eyes. “You and I don’t exactly have the best track record with that sort of thing lately.”

The faintest flicker of a smile lighted across the corners of Deethra’s lips. “...No, we don’t,” she said before hastily adding, “and I’m sorry about yesterday! I didn’t mean to-“

“Forget about that.” Rian waved a hand at her as he walked back over to the dresser. "I already have." He poured what was left of the wine into the pair of glasses and handed one of them to her, keeping the other for himself. The sleeves of Deethra's dress were still partway pulled down off her shoulders when she accepted the glass from Rian. She adjusted them back firmly into place on her body with the hand that wasn't holding her glass, looking markedly pleased and relieved now that she knew it didn't have to come off of her tonight.

As for Rian, he unfastened the top few buttons of his collar with his spare hand, finally freeing his neck from it's chalky, white stranglehold. “To, uh...us, I suppose.” Rian shrugged as he raised his glass at Deethra in an offering of a toast.

Deethra swirled her glass thoughtfully in hand, before raising it up to clink up against the side of Rian's. “...to our own choices.”

Rian smirked at her from behind the rim of his glass as he brought it up to his lips. He could certainly drink to that...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Bet you guys thought you were getting smut, huh?](https://www.reddit.com/r/YouFellForItFool/comments/cjlngm/you_fell_for_it_fool/)  
>    
> To anybody who’s disappointed that they didn’t actually get it on on this chapter...patience. It is a slow burn after all, and I do plan on having some content that makes this worthy of its shiny-new M rating. ;) 
> 
> No update this weekend, but next chapter features Deet making some new friends, and receiving a wedding gift from Rian.
> 
> Thanks for reading as always! Your feedback is everything. <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Arranged Marriages AUs are my bread and butter in fandom so I couldn't resist making my own for my latest OTP. I just loooooooovvve to see two characters who don't initially want to be together gradually grow to have genuine affection for each other as the story goes on. <3 
> 
> Feedback is greatly appreciated, as I need all the motivation I can get to help me see this through properly. :p I plan to update this every week, or every two weeks on Saturdays. Happy shipping!!


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